The Bourne Cross
by EuphoriaLily
Summary: The battle in Manila has been won. But the battle for their lives, and their hearts, has only just begun. What if an old acquaintance joins the couple? Will the handsome Outcome Agent and the beautiful Doctor finally be free? Will the old acquaintance finally be rid of his past? Rated UPDATE: From chapter 5 it is rated T with occasional M! Just warning you! CURRENTLY ON HIATUS
1. Aftermath

**So! New story! Maybe you've read my other stories, but if you haven't, please do. I can always use the feedback. I love the Bourne series, and if he were anywhere near my league, I'd be proposing to Jeremy Renner. I just love him in every single movie I've seen so far.**

**Disclaimer: The Bourne Legacy doesn't belong to me, which makes me extremely sad. I just used the characters for non-profital entertainment for you!**

**Enjoy**

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**Aftermath**

He didn't know where they were in relation to Manila, he didn't know exactly where they were going, at least for the moment, but for some insane reason, he didn't care. His wounds on his leg and his arm were healing quickly, and, thanks to the viralling out, his mind was already working at full capacity. He didn't understand exactly how it all worked, but he was glad he was off the chems. He'd always hated the routine, had always hated that he had to carry those damned pills with him. But, thanks to a certain doctor, that was no longer necessary.  
He leaned backwards in his chair on deck of the fisherman's boat and closed his eyes. It had been a long time since he'd been this relaxed. The sun was shining brightly, touching his skin, warming him to the core. He would trade those snowy, frozen mountains, which he lived and survived on for days, with this climate any day. When he focused, he could feel every presence on board this boat, every move they made. He knew just by looking at the fisherman that he had a gun in his waistband, a knife in his boot and that his son had a knife in a sheath tied around his waist under his shirt.  
He'd already put an empty mag in the gun the first night, but he hadn't known what to do with the knives. He couldn't very well throw them overboard, that would be to obvious. So he just let those there, hoping they would not be used against him or his companion.

Speaking of, he felt a warm presence join him up on deck, her small feet tapping softly on the wooden panels. He opened his eyes, he longed to look at her. She smiled, it lit her whole face. He loved that smile. Always had, even before he went rogue. "Hey." he said, smiling back at her.

"Hey, Aaron." she said softly. She sat down next to him and leaned backwards to enjoy the sun. Two days on this boat and not being chased around the globe worked well for her. She'd gained some weight, her skin had tanned a bit, which made her even more beautiful. "Where are we going this time, Aaron?"

His blood turned to ice. His shoulders tensed up, his mind went straight into work-mode. "This boat? It's going to Bintulu, Malaysia. In and about." After that? Cape Town. How? He didn't have a clue. His mind immediately started analyzing. What to do when he got there? How was he going to stay low? How was he going to get to Cape Town?

Her eyes shot open and she looked at him with those big, brown eyes in which he could easily drown. "Malaysia?!"

He nodded, leaned forward and took the map, rolled it open and looked at all the lines he'd traced these, all the dots he'd connected. "From there, we have to get on a flight to Cape Town."

It was almost laughable, the way her eyebrows shot up. He didn't laugh, though. "What do we do in Cape Town?" she asked, her voice sounding more skeptical by the second.

He understood her skepticism all too well. He wasn't too sure either. But he had to try. "In Cape Town...we track down Bourne." He heard how dramatic that sounded and could hit himself for it. He liked humor, sure. But no drama.

But his announcement had shut her up. She stared at him as if he'd gone insane, and he immediately started to doubt himself. If a doctor looked at him like that, he knew he was in trouble. "Track down Bourne? Are you crazy, have you watched the news lately?"

Slowly, his blood began to unfreeze and his Outcome-brain quieted down. He leaned back again, throwing the map onto the table and closing his eyes to enjoy the sun. "I know. But he's the only one I know that has gone through a similar thing. He is the only one who went rogue, in my knowledge. And we have to end it somehow. We can't run forever." He opened his eyes and stared at her, his stormy gray eyes meeting her untroubled dark ones. "I can't do that to you. I won't."

Her eyes softened just a bit, but he knew he'd almost won. Then her lips pursed and she shook her head. "Bourne is dangerous, Aaron."

Suddenly, he rose, yanked her to her feet and pressed her against the railing, his body trapping hers effectively. This was the mode he knew best. The tactical mode. Or fight-mode. He also liked this one the most. He could turn this mode on and off at will, but it could also turn on by itself when he needed it, without him having to think about it. It made him feel in control.  
He looked down at her. Her chest was heaving, her eyes filled with a mixture of fear and admiration and her mouth was just slightly open, which gave her an unintended sexy look. "Do you think I'm not dangerous? Do you honestly believe that I cannot kill you with my bare hands if I wanted to?"

She blinked a few times before answering. "I know you can. But you won't."

He raised his brows. He did not want to go there, because she was right. She was his only weakness. "Oh, you really think so?" She nodded and in one quick motion, he put his leg behind hers, turned her and pushed her to the ground. She lay flat in a matter of seconds, with him on top of her. She cried out in surprise, and did he hear pain? If he hurt her... But she opened her eyes already and no pain was detected. Thank God. "You have no idea how many ways I can think of right now to kill you." he whispered hoarsely.

She stared up at him, her breath coming in short bursts, and he suddenly, he was very aware of her warm body moving beneath him. "You wouldn't hurt me." she whispered back. "After all we've been through, after all I've done for you and you've done for me? I don't think so."

His hands were positioned on both sides of her head, his body was pressed firmly against hers and he became more and more aware of that contact when he slowly turned his fight-mode off. "I'm sorry." he murmured, blushing with shame. He pushed himself on his feet and gave her his hand to pull her up.

She smiled, but it was wavering. Did he make her scared of him? God, he hoped not. She was the only one he could trust. "It's okay. You've made your point. But what I meant is, Bourne has been off the chems for two and a half years. That sort of neglect causes severe brain damage. I don't know how he's been able to keep himself alive this long."

Two and a half years? How is it that he is still walking this earth? Aaron raked his hand through his hair and shook his head. "There's something with that guy. He is different. Different than the others, even different than me. And I don't mean that egotistically. I mean, I went rogue, but I had to viral out if I wanted to stop using the chems. But Bourne...Bourne went rogue, and he stopped using it all together. Yet, he's still here."

Dr. Shearing sighed and put a small hand on his bicep. "Bourne was the best and the worst choice to begin Treadstone with. We think - we being the doctors of the lab and I - we think that there's something physically off with him, something that produces the same chems as the pills do. He was never dependent on us for those pills. That's why he could go rogue. But honestly? I have no idea how he's doing it, if that theory is not correct. You were lucky to be off the blue ones for so long. That made it possible for you to go rogue. You weren't dependent on us anymore."

"Yeah, I was."

"Yeah, but those blue pills, they mess with your dependence/independence idea." she explained. 'That's why they didn't even consider to viral everyone out of the blues.'

He shook his head, disgusted. So that was what the blue pills were really doing. Why didn't he think of that before. "You knew about this?" He looked at her sideways.

She turned red and lowered her head. "I did...Aaron, I'm sorry."

"Why didn't you do anything?" He took a step forward and he must have looked as angry as he felt, 'cause she took a startled step back. "You knew all this time, and you didn't say anything? You could've warned me, you could have said something, anything! Why didn't you do it?"

Tears sprang in her eyes and he immediately hated himself. "Because I thought you knew!" He stretched his hand out to her, to soothe her, but she whipped it away. "I thought you knew what you were getting into! I thought you viewed is as a necessary sacrifice! I admired you for it. Of course, now I realize you didn't know, and trust me, if I'd known that you didn't know, I would have done something. I would have." She stared at him and he stared back. He felt his gut clench and he knew it was because of her. He admired her strength, her conviction on what was right and wrong and especially admired the way she handled him. He was like soft wax in her hands. She could do anything to him and he wouldn't complain. "Alright?"

He shook himself out of his thoughts. "Yeah. Alright. I'm sorry." He turned and walked away, leaving her on deck. He descended the stairs to below decks to the berths. Before he completely disappeared, he looked back and saw Marta standing there, staring into the distance, hugging herself tightly. How he wanted to hug her himself. But he couldn't. What happened to the girl Bourne was with, couldn't happen to her.  
He opened the door to their berth, reached for a bottle of water and scanned the room for danger while he took a sip.  
He and Marta were forced to share one, this wasn't a high-class cruise ship. It was nice enough as it was of the fisherman to let them tag along. They couldn't demand a separate berth, and frankly, he hadn't minded. He'd shared rooms with her before, and he didn't mind doing so again. He liked the idea of knowing where she was and that she was safe. He threw himself in his bunk and automatically slipped his hand under his pillow, where is gun was hidden. He felt safer with that thing in his hand. He closed his eyes and tried to get some sleep. He was going to need it.

"Aaron?" Aaron frowned and tried to drown out the voice trying to wake him. He didn't want to wake. "Aaron, are you sleeping?"

He groaned. Once he'd registered the voice being Marta's, he knew he couldn't go asleep anymore. "Yeah. Soundly." he grumbled. She chuckled lightly. He opened his eyes to her.

"Sorry. I wanted to apologize for what I said." she whispered.

Her apologizing to him? No, no, no, not going to happen. He turned and grabbed her wrist to stop her from moving away from him. "No, Marta. You have nothing to apologize for. I on the other hand...I'm sorry that I treated you so roughly."

She smiled and sat down on the edge of the bed. "You know, I find it amazing how you could do all that without hurting me."

His brows furrowed. Not hurting her? What was she talking about? "What do you mean?"

"You didn't hurt me. Not once. I don't know how you did it, but you did all of that without once hurting me."

He took a relieved breath. "Oh, thank God. If I'd hurt you..." He was still holding her wrist and she wasn't resisting his hold. He looked up at her and found her eyes. Their fingers entangled in the same way they had after they'd just crashed and both looked at their hands simultaneously.

"But you didn't." she whispered. Their eyes locked again, and Aaron lifted his hand to touch her cheek despite himself.

"I can't..." he whispered. He wanted so much to touch her, to love her, but it would mean her death. It would be so selfish of him to give in. He knew he was THIS close to falling in love and then her fate would be sealed. He shouldn't do that to her. He should leave while he could, give her a chance of a normal life. She was smart, she'd make it.  
But he found that he couldn't stay away. The thought of her not being here...was just unimaginable.

She took his hand and looked at him with those honest, big, brown eyes. "What? Tell me."

He was silent for a very long time, in which they just stared at each other. Then he sat up. Their fingers were still entangled. "I-I shouldn't..." But in spite of his own warning, he suddenly pulled her to him and kissed her. She wasted no time to be surprised. Her hands knotted into his hair and she kissed him back, and his insides sang with joy. Never in his entire life had he felt so happy and so peaceful as at that moment, with her in his arms. They broke apart for air and he stroked her face as he looked at her. "I shouldn't love you. It's wrong and it's selfish and I know it." he whispered, and her face fell. "But I can't help myself." She smiled so radiantly that he kissed her again to capture that smile. He wanted to hold that smile with him forever.

"Why shouldn't you?" she asked when they both lay on Aaron's bunk, his arms wrapped around her protectively. She had buried her face in his chest and held onto him tightly. He liked this. He knew it was wrong and dangerous and completely selfish of him, but he liked it. "Why shouldn't you love me?"

He sighed and stroked her hair softly, as if it might break in his hands. Of course, that was totally true. "Things don't tend to end well for...people like me when they fall in love. Bourne lost his love in a car-chase in India because of what he is. The man who was part of Outcome and sheltered me after my training in the mountains, he was send there because he fell in love. You see, when we love, we are vulnerable. We have to calculate the safety of our lover in a tactical plan. That doesn't work out most of the time. We get distracted. My mind keeps drifting to you, and if that happens in a fight...I lose. Big time." He hugged her closer to his chest. "But we also can't help it. Because - no matter how many trainings we go through, how many horrible things we see or do - in the end, we are just human. Which enrages Them - with lack of a better word - beyond believe." He chuckled against the dark.

She buried her fingers into his shirt and took a deep breath, as if inhaling his scent. He shivered. "I'm sorry."

He looked down at her in surprise. "What for, in God's name?"

"For distracting you."

He laughed and pulled her up to take her eyes on his eye-level. "I don't mind, Marta. I'm too far gone to mind."

She chuckled and laid her head on his shoulder. "Aaron?" He hummed in response. "I love you."

He froze and stared at her. Her eyes were twinkling and a small smile played along her lips. "Did you just say...?"

She laughed and kissed his cheek softly. "I did."

He was silent for a while, looking at her in surprise and he felt his heart beat against his chest. He'd felt that before, in a chase, a fire-fight. But not like this, this was different, stranger. Better. Her eyes stopped sparkling after a while, concern creeping in them, clouding the chocolate irises to an almost black. "I – " His thoughts swerved through his head, like he'd never felt before, he wasn't used to this kind of chaos in his head. But one thing he was sure of, one response he knew was the only right one consistent with how he felt. "I-I love you, Marta." It felt good to say it, he wondered why he hadn't said it before.

Her eyes lit up again, and he laughed, rolled on his back and pulled her onto his chest. She steadied herself with her hands on both sides of his head and looked deep into his eyes once more. "I can't believe you just said that. I thought I'd never hear it."

He wrapped his arms around her skinny waist and smiled. He didn't think he had ever smiled so foolishly, so happily. "Well, that feeling is mutual."

She rested her head on his chest yet again and sighed, closing her eyes. He felt her relax on top of him and consequently, that made him relax as well. "You know, all those check-ups I did...every time you took your shirt off, my heart started beating faster. I mean, the others all took their shirts off for the check-ups, but none of them got my heart beating like you did."

"I'll take that as a compliment." He chuckled and traced his hands down her back and up again. He'd said some pretty degrading, stupid stuff when he was in the room with her. That made him feel guilty right now. "I feel the need to apologize. I've said some degrading things, especially on my last check-up, and..." But before he got to finish, his lips were sealed by hers.

"I never minded. I always thought the training didn't allow you to...indulge to your primal needs," she said, chuckling and turning red. It was just that she was this close, but otherwise, he wouldn't have even noticed the blush. "And I thought that was a very civilized way to unwind."

He cocked his head and laughed at the humor of it. "Civilized?" He could imagine more civilized ways to 'unwind'.

She traced a finger past his jaw line, and nodded. "You were a soldier, Aaron. There are a whole bunch of soldiers who would not have unwounded so kindly. On the contrary."

He balled his fists at the thought of anyone hurting her. He would kill anyone who'd even look at her in the wrong way. "Did anyone...?"

"No. Every single one that came into my office were Outcome-trained. You were trained to safe innocent lives, not to rape or destroy those lives."

That came as a relieve to him.  
He was familiar with these cravings. Before Outcome, he'd barely been able to control them. He'd snapped once, and that memory will never be wiped from his memory, or he'd have to get shot in the back twice and then nearly drown. The guilt that had followed him from that day had been so extensive...it had been that guilt that ushered him into the Program. _We are morally indefensible and absolutely necessary._ Morally indefensible sounded nice enough. He didn't like to be defended. He knew he'd be doing things that were above the law. And he wanted to do them. He hadn't cared about being locked up for it. He'd just wanted to forget that night.  
Of course, he'd appreciated that they taught him how to put his cravings under control.  
But he'd feared for her. He'd known she was seeing the other participants, too. He'd known that they hadn't all always been as morally correct as he'd been, safe once. "Good. Because if someone had hurt you..."

"...you wouldn't have been able to do anything about it." she finished his sentence. "Remember, they all took the yellow-pills, or were blasted sky-high."

He shrugged. He knew that, although admittedly, he'd forgotten until now. It was just nice to think about it. "I know. But that doesn't change what I would've done, if they'd hurt you."

She giggled, which was the most adorable thing he ever heard and he kissed her again. "Well, at least I know I'll be avenged." she mumbled, her eyes closed and the tip of her tongue tracing her lower lip, which made Aaron's heart leap.

A knot formed in his stomach at her words. "Don't say that. I don't want to avenge you. That is, I will avenge you, I just don't want you to die. I care too much about you. I've never cared for anyone like this. Not even myself."

She buried her small, warm hands in his neck and kissed his lips soft and lovingly. He'd never been handled with so much care and love. He still had the scars to prove it. "Then it's time to start caring. If you don't, you'll handle your life with less care, and I don't want that. I want you with me, always."

The sensations she brought up in him were so familiar and yet so new. He knew the rushing of blood in his ears from the adrenaline of the hunt, or the kill. He knew the hammering of his heart of the chase and the escape. But what he felt now, it wasn't exactly the same. This was more...pleasant. It made his stomach turn, and his head light. "Marta..." he sighed. He let his head rest on the pillows and closed his eyes, comforted by her warm body in his arms. He knew he would be able to sleep better tonight. Last night and the night before, he'd been so restless. He never knew if she was okay. "Go to sleep..."

She looked up at him. "You want me to go to my own bunk?"

He tightened his arms around her and shook his head. "No way. You are not going anywhere tonight, Dr. Shearing." She grinned and laid her head back down on his chest.

"I can't complain."  
He closed his eyes and warmth spread from his heart to his entire body. He could honestly say he had never felt this...at peace. The warmth made him slowly and peacefully drift off into a state of deep sleep.

"Aaron?" Her beautiful voice echoed through the dark, calling him, luring him towards her. He let her. "Aaron, come to me." He came. Without thinking, without really listening. When she finally came into view, he couldn't believe what he saw. His Marta, tied to a chair and a handgun pointed right at her beautiful head. Silent tears were streaking her cheeks, and all her eyes said was 'sorry'. Who was doing this?

"Who are you? What do you want?" he yelled at the person threatening his Marta with a gun. Shadows were engulfing the man.

A low chuckle. "You know what I want. It's what we all want. The destruction of Outcome. I knew you'd come when she'd call. She's a liability. She's your weakness."

"Byer." Aaron hissed. He should've known. "I swear to God, if you hurt her...!"

"Then what, huh?!" yelled Byer, and he pressed the gun harder to Marta's head. She whimpered in fear. "She dies, you die, we both know it!"

Aaron shook his head, a feeling of desperation coming over him. He wasn't familiar with that feeling. He was used to being in control of a situation. Now he had none. "Just let her go. Please, you can have me, just let her go." he said, raising his hands in defeat. Unbelievable, without even a fight! But Marta was still held at gun point and he wanted that gun off of her head.

"No, Aaron..."

"Quiet, Marta." he begged. "Don't make this worse for both of us."

"You are so weak. Love makes you weak. You had so much potential, Aaron. A shame you let it go to waste like this." Aaron knew from the detached sound of Byers voice, what was going to happen next.

"No. Please, God, don't." he begged. He never thought that he was going to beg Byer. But here he was. Brought to his knees by his own weakness.

A soft laugh and then the gun fired. Aaron screamed his longs out, and cowardly looked away from Marta. She was dead, and he knew it. "You bastard! This is all your fault!" He jumped up and faced Byer, who stepped out of the shadows for the first time. But he wasn't looking into that clean, well-cared-for face of Byer. He was staring directly into his own.

"Yes," the other him said, grinning cruelly, "it _is_my fault."

Aaron's eyes flew open and he gasped for breath. He found himself staring up at the dark ceiling in his cabin, gasping for breath. Marta! Was she still here? His arms were wrapped around the warm frame of her and he tightened his arms for a moment, to be sure that she was with him. He sighed in relieve and relaxed back into the bed. His heart was beating a mile per minute and he felt the adrenaline pumping through his system. This was like nothing he'd ever felt before. He knew what it was, he'd just never felt it before. It was despair, fear. He'd never been truly afraid. Maybe a bit unsettled when he was being chased by that pack of wolves, or when everything blew up around him, but not like this. This was agony, fear that Marta might be taken away from him.

Her voice suddenly whispered, "Aaron?" She stirred in his arms and she looked up slowly, sleep and worry in her eyes. "What's wrong?"

He smiled at her and put his hand in her neck to comfort her. "Nothing. Go back to sleep." He was falling. He knew it. His dream proved it. He was her killer. And there wasn't a thing he could do about it.

She kissed his jaw and he immediately felt a calm coming over him. She rested her head back on his chest and her cheek radiated warmth through his body, making him woozy and sleepy. With his hand resting in her neck, he fell asleep again.


	2. Q

**I'm sorry!  
Don't kill me if you were waiting for the next chapter! Don't worry, it will be up soon!  
I just had a question for everyone who reads this. Would you read a story in which Aaron Cross(Jeremy Renner) would come face to face with Hawkeye/Clint Barton(Also Jeremy, in the Avengers and Thor)? Or would that be weird and disturbing?  
Leave your thoughts in the reviews or send a PM! I would really like to know if anyone would read it!**

**Don't worry, the second chapter for The Bourne Cross ****_will_**** be up very soon!**

**I love you guys!**

**-Lily**


	3. In Sickness and in Health

**As promised! Chapter 2 for you guys! This is a long one, hope you like it! And thanks for all the positive responses on my Aaron vs. Clint story. I'm not quite sure how to do this though. Make 'em twins? Or really just completely differenl persons? Hmm...gonna brood on that one for a while.**

**Anyways, enjoy!**

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**In Sickness and in Health**

"Mister Cross, Mister Cross!"

The shipper's broken English woke him, while bright light shone in his eyes.  
"Coast Police! Coast police, zey want to conduct a search of ze boat!"  
That's all it took for Aaron to shoot up, gun in hand and loaded. Next to him, Marta started to stir and moan softly.

"Marta, wake up. Now." He noticed with part of his brain, that he was completely detached from the feelings from yesterday. He was strictly professional. Fight-mode.

"What do I do?" the Fisherman said, worried.

Aaron ushered Marta out of the bunk, while his mind worked at top-speed. "Get your stuff. We have to get out of here, quick." She nodded, trusting him completely. He turned to the fisherman again. "How long can you hold them off, Bayani?"

Bayani, the fisherman, shook his head. "Couple of minutes. Can demand warrant."

Aaron nodded. He'd estimate eight minutes to get a warrant. How ironic. "Alright, do the best you can. Thank you, Bayani. And thank your son, too."

The fisherman bowed slightly and left. "Where are we going now?" Marta asked, while randomly throwing her clothes in the backpack. Thank the Lord for it being water-resistant.

"I don't know. My plan is screwed, I need a new one, fast." He let his brain do all the thinking, but his plan stopped at swimming to the nearest shore.

"How about: let's not get caught?"

Aaron laughed in spite of the situation. "Good one." He tensed up immediately after that. "You ready?" She nodded and he pulled her to her feet, while she swung the backpack over her shoulder. He looked at the golden watch. Four minutes. "I want you to stay close, alright? Try to hold on to something of me, no matter what." She nodded, in all seriousness.

The kid, Jogia, came down. He had a knack for English, unlike his dad and had picked up the language in the few days they had been here. "You have to hurry." he whispered. "Papa cannot hold them back for long."

Aaron nodded thankfully and took off the golden watch. "For your hospitality." He gave it to Jogia, whose face lit up with a big smile.

"Thank you." the boy murmured gratefully, slipping the watch around his wrist. "Papa says to go. Quickly."

Aaron nodded again and grabbed the Doc's hand. "Stay with me, alright?" She nodded.

"Head south. There is shore in two kilometers." the boy instructed them. Aaron nodded yet again and went to the door, Marta following close behind him. On deck he heard muffled voices, but it was enough to understand that the cost guard wasn't on board yet. With one last glance at Jogia, Aaron slipped out of the berth. Slowly, they made their way up on deck.

"Aaron." Marta whispered. He turned and she pointed over her shoulder. He looked and saw Bayani with his back to them, trying to hold of the Cost Guard. Aaron's grip on his gun tightened.

"We have to move." he whispered. He felt her hand tighten around his own and he grabbed her tighter. For a moment he thought about losing her, and his heart stung. He couldn't lose her. "Don't get out of my sight." he ordered.

She sighed. "Aaron..."

He turned on his heels to face her and her face turned serious when she saw his expression. He grabbed her shoulders and looked deep into her eyes to state the seriousness. "Promise me, Marta."

She saw that he meant it and nodded. She grabbed his hand. "I promise, Aaron. Now let's go."

He admired her strength. She was determined to stay safe. He nodded and looked around. "When I say 'now', we run for the railing over there and jump. Alright?" Her face was set in a mask of determination and he just knew she'd follow him everywhere. Which was flattering. He shook his head to clear it and focused on the task at hand. He looked at the coast guard and Bayani. They were still in heavy conversation.

"Ready?..." He waited for the opportune moment. And then found it when the Fisherman shifted his right foot just a bit. "Now!" he whispered softly, and they took off to the railing. Shouting and screaming indicated that they had been discovered. So far for getting out undetected. "Don't look back, keep running!"  
Aaron's heart froze when gunshots sounded and bullets flew around their heads. Marta screamed and then they jumped over the railing, landing in the lukewarm water. The gunshot wound in his leg protested heavily against the salt water, but he ignored it.

They resurfaced, but bullets landed in the water around them. They were not out of danger just yet. His hand still was in hers, gripping tightly. "Take a deep breath! Trust me, okay?!" he shouted over the gunshots and the screaming.

"I trust you!" she shouted.

"Ready? Breathe and dive!" They both took a deep breath and dove. It was very hard to look under the salty water, but they had no choice. He motioned for her to swim and she nodded. He pulled her south and they swam as fast as they could, bullets whizzing past their ears. Aaron's heart was beating again, but this time it was adrenaline from the Chase. The only problem in that was that he was the one being chased. His breath was long from running out, but Marta pulled at his hand, touching her throat, indicating that she didn't have any air left. He reluctantly nodded and pushed her to the surface, him following close behind. She emerged gasping, but he just let out his breath and took a new one.

"How do you do it? Holding your breath for so long, without even getting exhausted?" she asked, gasping for breath while trying to remain floating.

He reached for her and steadied her so that she could stop kicking for a moment and rest. He got that she wasn't as trained in these kind of things, and that she was tired far more quickly. "I used to be an Outcome agent, Marta." he said. "I was trained for this."

"Sometimes, I'm jealous." she admitted and he chuckled.

"Don't be." He scanned around and saw the coast guard boat sail away to the north. They were safe for now. "Come on, we can't stay here." She followed him. He was worried about her. She'd not only been exhausted, her face had looked so pale. If she got sick...there were no medical supplies here, at least not the ones they both knew and relied on. He couldn't cure her. He looked back and saw her struggling to keep her weight up in the water, under the weight of the backpack. "Let me take that." he said, already at her side and taking the backpack from her.

"No, it's fine." she argued, and Aaron only smiled at her stubbornness.

"Marta...I'm taking the backpack. No discussion." he said, sternly, but smiling.

She sighed and smiled back, as a last resort. "Yes, Captain."

He chuckled at that. "Yeah. If I'd been that lucky. Private First Class was as far as I got before Outcome pulled me out."

She shrugged that off. "You're a captain in this case. You're the only one I can trust, you always know what to do." He couldn't stand this. He didn't like hearing how she needed him. It made it all the more difficult to try and let her go, if ever.

"Let's just continue."  
They swam for quite some time, sometimes fast, sometimes slow. Sometimes he pulled her along because she got tired, sometimes she swam next to him. Her face was always pale. Finally, after what seemed like days but was just a few hours, they saw land.

"Aaron!" she exclaimed, her voice drained of all strength. It was a miracle she was still swimming.

"I know, hurry up." he said, and he heard that he was out of breath, too. It was, after all, taking its toll on him. Now he'd calmed down, he felt the leg wound sting, and his shoulder was aching badly. He might be well-trained, but even two wounds could drain him to the point that he was unable to do anything.

"No, Aaron, that's not it." She yanked on his hand and he stopped swimming, turning to her, worried. Her face was paler than before, her eyes were glazed over and she was panting heavily.

Worry swept over him and he swam to her as fast as he could. "What's wrong?" She started to bare her shoulder, and for some reason, his heart started pounding like crazy. But that stopped the moment it was completely bared. It stopped beating at all. There was a disgusting-looking wound there, bleeding heavily. "Marta!" He grabbed her around the waist and pulled her to him to hold her above the water and started to examine the wound.  
It looked bad. The salt had to have stung her pretty badly the past couple of hours, it was remarkable that she'd even managed to swim this far.

"How bad is it?" she murmured.

"Marta..." he whispered, unable to find the right words, unable to answer. "Can you please swim a few more meters?"

She nodded, but her eyes already started to close a bit. "I'm feeling light-headed. What do I do?"

"Fight. That's all you can do. I get you there. I've got you. I won't let you die." He pulled her along towards shore, and before that moment, it hadn't seemed so far, but then it did. They had to get to shore and fast, or Marta would not make it. The idea of losing her to a bullet from the Filipino Coast Guard frightened him beyond believe. And the fact that it frightened him, frightened him, too. It was weird.

"Aaron..." Her voice sounded weak and when he looked at her, he saw that her eyes were closed now, her lips were cracked and dry, and the wound was still bleeding heavily. The water kept cleansing the wound, preventing the blood to close it. They had to get to shore, there was no other way.

"Please, Marta, please just a few more minutes. Keep fighting, stay with me."

"I don't know...if I can...hold on." she panted.

"Don't die on me now, Doc. I need you." Yeah, he just heard himself say that. But it was the truth. She'd been the only light in his life for a couple of weeks now.

"I'm trying..."

"Hang on just a little while longer. You're a fighter, Doc. So fight!" he begged. He couldn't lose her. He just downright couldn't. He stopped her and ripped his shirt away, to bind her shoulder, to stop the flowing of blood.

"Not that I mind...but what are you doing?" Well, she still had her sense of humor. He hoped that was a good sign.

"Trying to stop you from bleeding to death." he said curtly and he pulled the knot tightly. She gasped and he winced. "Sorry. But that you feel this pain is a good thing. It gets your adrenaline pumping. It'll keep you awake." His legs were getting tired of kicking all the time, but if he stopped, the backpack would drag him under. "Listen to me," he said, his voice sharp and professional. He grabbed the sides of her face and forced her to look at him. "You're probably feeling the urge to close your eyes, to rest, for just a little while. Don't. Fight that urge. You have to stay awake, alright? Don't let your body stop keeping itself alive. Okay?"

She nodded, tears were in the corners of her eyes, and he grabbed her hand fiercely before he began swimming to shore again. This was all he could do at the moment. He had some medical supplies in the backpack, but with the water going over the wound all the time, it wouldn't work. He'd have to wait until they reached land. "Aaron?" she asked, and she sounded so desperate that he stopped once again and turned. "I'm scared." she whispered ever so softly.

He sighed. He couldn't blame her. He was scared too. He put a reassuring hand in her neck and smiled softly. "You'll be fine, I promise." He wasn't sure who he was trying to convince. "Come on. If we delay any longer, I can't help you. You have to hold on just a little while longer." She scanned his face, honestly looking frightened. She recognized Death when she saw him, and right now she was sure he was standing right in front of her. Well, he wasn't gonna take her. Not while Aaron still had a single breath left in his lungs. "I'm right here. I'm not going anywhere. And I'm not going to allow you to die, alright? Not on my watch."

That seemed to do the trick for her. She smiled weakly, and then nodded, looking extremely focused and determined. "I'll follow you everywhere, Aaron. And if you're not dead yet, I won't be dying either any time soon."

He smirked and started swimming. He knew he had to keep her mind sharp now. It was imperative. She had to keep talking. "Planning to out-live me, Doc?"

She smiled. "In fact, I'm counting on that."

"Well, at the rate I'm going, you will out-live me no matter what."

"I certainly do not hope so." she whispered. Her eyes were starting to close again.

"Doc, tell me something. What's your name?" He had try and keep her awake.

"Marta...Marta Shearing." she answered weakly.

"Good. What's 18 times 115.853?"

She was silent for a while, and for a moment he feared she was too weak to answer. But then she did, "2085.354."

He grinned. She had to be exact, didn't she? "Alright then. Where did you grow up?"

"Seattle, Washington. My parents had this cute little house on a hill, completely surrounded by trees. Me and my sister used to play in between those trees. We'd play that we were being chased and got shot at." She laughed, but it didn't sound normal. "Ironic, isn't it?"

Suddenly, Aaron felt solid ground between his feet. He looked up and saw that they had reached shore. "Doc! We're here!" He dragged her towards shore, desperate to get her out of the water. Suddenly, waves crashed on top of them and they submerged without warning, with no breath. He felt Marta panic, and he grasped her hand, afraid that she might let go in her panic. He kicked towards the surface, but the current was too strong and was pulling him down, and Marta with him. His breath was gone and the only way upward, was forward. The ground was not far beneath him, he just had to find it. He felt her pulse race in her wrist he held tightly, and he knew she was fighting the urge to take a breath.

Suddenly they broke to the surface and Aaron almost laughed when he saw the waves had brought them to the shore. He started pulling Marta up, who was gasping for breath and coughing heavily. He had his breath reasonably under control, but his heart was racing. He dragged himself and Marta up onto the beach and they dropped with fatigue on the sand. Aaron opened his eyes and saw Marta curled up and shivering. He crawled towards her and pulled her in his arms, covering her with his body. He wanted to protect her from every evil in the world, but his body wouldn't do the trick. At least not for the wound.

"I'll protect you. I'm here. I'm here, I won't let you die."

Tears of pain and exhaustion streaked her cheeks and he pulled her closer. "It hurts, Aaron. It hurts so much."

He had to fight the urge to cry as well. "I know. I know. It'll pass, it'll pass." He didn't know why he kept saying things twice, but it felt like it would soothe her.

It did, though. Her panic attack stopped, although the shivering didn't. "What do we do now?" she murmured.

"We have to go. We need to clean that wound." He stood up and lifted her in his arms. He was tired and his entire body hurt, but he would put up with it. For her.

"I'm still scared. I'm trying not to be, but..." Her voice wavered.

He shook his head and shushed her. "It's alright to be scared. Scared means you're alive and fighting for your life." That earned him a soft smile and he smirked back. "I wouldn't expect anything less from you, Miss Shearing."

That seemed to at least calm her enough to stop hyperventilating. She leaned her head against his chest. "Can I pass out now?"

He checked her pulse quickly and was relieved to find it steady enough. The wound wouldn't kill her anymore, unless it would start to fester. Which it would. Most definitely. "I think you're good. I'll wake you every few hours, though, to prevent you from going into coma or whatmore.' She nodded, wound her arms around his neck and buried her face in the crook of his neck.

Luckily, not one mile from shore, he found a small village, with a doctor who took the bullet out of Marta's shoulder. Neither the doctor nor themselves had anesthetic in store.

"You might want to hold onto my hand, Doc." whispered Aaron, careful not to use her real name. The exhausted doctor grasped his hand and pinched softly. "I'm right here with you, I won't leave." he whispered. The other, local doctor started to extract the bullet with tweezers that he pinched right through the wound and Marta's eyes flew open, screaming her lungs out. She almost crushed Aaron"s hand, but he didn't let go. He would be there for her, always. Parting from her had become impossible. He knew it was best if they did part, but he couldn't. The idea of leaving her was too much. The fact that she was lying here, crushing his hand, and half-naked...it made him realise he wanted her. He wanted all of her. He'd told her he loved her yesterday, and she'd said the same thing. But he didn't know where that put them. He'd had close to none experience in love. Neither one of them had spoken anymore on what was said and done the previous night. Did that mean she regretted it? Did he?  
Yes. He regretted it. But only because his loving her endangered her. Like a lot.  
She pinched his hand again and was still screaming. He almost couldn't handle it. It was too much, the screaming from her. He wanted to protect her so much, but he couldn't, not from this. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry." he whispered against her hand and he clenched his eyes shut.

"It's not...it's not your fault. You saved me..." She sounded like she was about to pass out.

"She will be fine now." the doctor said to him suddenly. Aaron looked up and saw the doctor standing with the bloody bullet between tweezers. "But she has lost a lot of blood. She will be weak and if she is very unlucky, she will get infected."

"Is that dangerous?" he asked, standing up, a worried expression on his face.

"Not if you have antibiotics. If she gets infected, she will get sick. A fever. But with antibiotics, then it will get better."

Aaron sighed relieved and leaned his head against his and hers joined hands. She was going to be okay. "You're going to make it, Doc." he whispered.

She pinched his hand, reassuringly now. "Thanks to you." He lifted his head and looked at her looking at him. Then she lifted her good arm and beckoned him. He rose and leaned in. Her hand slid in his neck and pulled him close, and then her lips crashed on his, and he kissed her back very willingly. The doctor cleared his throat, but they didn't hear him. They were both lost in a kiss so passionate that it made him forget about all of his training in a second. His heart was pouring into this kiss, everything he ever shielded from anyone flowed over to her. All his walls were brought down around him.

"Ehm...excuses me? Mr Smith?" Aaron did not know that name, but he knew that since he hadn't given any name, the doctor called him Smith. Which was a good thing. Aaron broke away from his love and smiled at her, stroking her face. "I have other patients."

Right. That, Aaron did not believe. The interior was too shabby, too informal for that. The good doctor was the best they had in this village, but it wasn't like the medical places Statesside. It would be a miracle if Marta didn't get an infection right here. But the doctor was right, they had to leave.  
The wound was still bleeding severely and Aaron started working with some bandages to patch her up. When the doctor sighed impatiently, Aaron shot him an murderous look and said, "You want to bleed her dry? 'Cause if I just sense anything wrong with your intentions, I will cut your tongue out." The doctor did not speak again. Aaron turned his attention back to his love and smiled. "Don't worry. I'll get you outta here. I'll take care of you."

She smiled back faintly. "I know. I trust you with my life." Then she closed her eyes and slept a few moments later. He paid the doctor and scooped her up in his arms when he was done patching her up, and he walked out of there.

She trusted him with her life...that made him so happy that his step was light, as if he was walking on clouds. He wondered what was happening to him, what she was doing to him, but part of him didn't care. He just didn't want her to stop doing it.

He checked them in in a small, secluded hotel and asked for the room closest to the emergency exit. They got one with double bed, and he half-smirked at the thought of sharing the bed with her. He made it clear to the staff that he didn't want any questions asked, and then he went up to their room, still carrying Marta. When he laid her down on the bed, she briefly opened her eyes and smiled at him.

"You're going to be fine now, Marta." he said, taking her hand and massaging small circles on her palm. "I'll take care of you." He kissed her forehead and laid down next to her. His whole body ached from their swim, and his clothes clung to his body, but he didn't care about that. He just wanted to sleep. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close to his chest. The warmth she was emitting was comforting. That's how he knew she was alive. He closed his eyes and almost immediately fell to sleep.

He was so tired that his brain didn't even have the power to dream, so he just crashed through the night without noticing. When he woke up, he found Marta shivering in his arms and he sat up worriedly. "Marta?" He pressed his hand to her forehead and groaned. She was burning up. Would this horror never be over? He jumped up, went to the bathroom and wetted a towel, completely ignoring the stiffness of his clothes. While he was doing this, she suddenly screamed in terror from the adjacent room. His instincts reacted immediately. He pulled out his gun from its holster on his waistband, took the safety off and ran back, almost bumping against the bed, because the room was so small. But there was no attacker. Instead she was tossing and turning, thrashing around because of a nightmare. He put the safety back on the gun, placed it next to the bed and knelt next to her. "Marta." he said softly, shaking her arm.

"No! No, no, please! Please, don't hurt him! NO PLEASE STOP!" she screamed.

Aaron rose and shook her entire body. She covered her face with her hands and accidentally hit herself hard, while still screaming, and he tried to take them away, but she managed to get away from his grasp. She became a liability to herself this way. Soon she'd hurt herself. He struggled with her for a moment for control of her hands. "Marta! It's okay, I'm here, nothing's going to hurt you!" he said, and he finally managed to get her hands and pin them above her head so she couldn't hit herself or him. Marta's eyes shot open and she tried to shoot up, but he prevented that with his hands and body.

"Oh God." she whispered. She stared at him with relief and tears started to pour down her cheeks.

"Are you okay?" he asked softly.

She shook her head and closed her eyes. "It was horrible..." She looked up at him after a moment of silence in which she just sobbed and he suddenly became very much aware of how they were positioned. She was trapped beneath his body and he had her hands pinned in the pillows above her head. His face got warm.

"Can I trust you not to start hitting yourself again?" he asked.

She frowned and nodded. "Yes, of course." she said, her voice skipping with tears. "Why w-would I hit myself?"

He gently released her and sat down next to her. "You did so in your sleep." She lifted her hand to her cheek and frowned.

"Ouch." She sat up and buried her face in her knees. Her shoulders shook. He couldn't take it. He wanted so much to protect her, and it was horrible that he couldn't. He took her in his arms and gently rocked her to soothe her.

"You wanna talk about it?"

She shook her head and just buried her face deeper in his shirt. She was still having a fever, but this was obviously a clear moment. "Just hold me." she whispered and he happily obliged.

"I'm so sorry."

Suddenly, she hit his chest hard and he looked down in surprise. He found himself staring into two fierce brown eyes. "You have to stop apologizing. You can't help this. It's not your fault!"

He shook his head, and traced one finger past her jaw. "But it is, Marta. If I wasn't here..."

"...I'd already be dead. I'd rather have some nightmares than be dead." She blinked and he knew the fever-daze was coming over her again. He rose and got the wet towel from the bathroom where he'd dropped it. He sat down again and dabbed her forehead. He recognized this situation, it was just backwards. This time, she was the one with the fever, and he was taking care of her.

"Get outta here." she murmured, leaning into the coolness of the wet towel. "I'm slowing you down. You have to run, Aaron. I can take care of myself."

He shook his head and smoothed her hair softly. "Shh, shh..." He could almost hear his voice break. She was upsetting him, and he didn't like that. She was making him lose control, and control was just the thing that kept him together.

"They're going to find us...you have to safe yourself...go..."

That Aaron refused. He wouldn't leave her, not now, not when she needed him. "Forget it. I won't leave you." He guided her down on the bed and wrapped her in blankets.

"Aaron..."

He pressed his lips to hers and sighed. "No, Marta. I'm not going to leave you when you didn't leave me either. Just rest. I'll take care of you." She smiled faintly with her eyes closed and he knew she was slipping away again. "Rest." he whispered softly, dabbing her forehead carefully, lovingly. "You're safe." He decided that he didn't mind losing the control. He kept the towel cool through the entire day and forced antibiotics down her throat when she was somewhat awake. He hated it that he had to force her into anything, but she refused to take them on her own. When there wasn't any need in taking care of her, he was either buying antibiotics, some new clothes for the both of them and a second backpack, or using the computer on the small desk in the corner. The damn thing was ancient, and agonizingly slow, but it worked and Aaron could work out how they were going to get to Cape Town. First, he had to figure out where they were. They turned out to be in Luncanin, only 12 miles away from Mariveles, where there was a small airport. From there, they could travel to Cape Town without complications. What did unsettle him, was that they weren't out of the Philippines yet. It wasn't safe here, 'cause a motorchase and things blowing up wasn't going to go unnoticed back in the States. If they didn't get out of here soon, the CIA would find them. And no doubt erase all evidence. And that would not be nice. At all.

Aaron got distracted when Marta started to thrash around again, and his heart nearly broke when he heard her moan his name in pure fear. A nightmare again. He settled himself on the bed next to her and pulled her in his arms, rocking her until she calmed a little. She didn't wake, though.  
Aaron stared at the ceiling while he absentmindedly stroked her hair, trying to figure out what his next move would be. No. Not his next move. Their next move. Life without her was unimaginable now. So he had to stop thinking in terms of 'he' and start thinking in terms of 'they'. He had to account for her life and wishes now, too.  
This was why relationships were so dangerous, suddenly Aaron saw it all too clearly. Planning for two persons was double d. Difficult and dangerous. But it was also too late now. She had attached herself to his heart and refused to leave. And he didn't want her to. He was too far gone.  
He slid down and got settled for the night, his beautiful Marta in his arms. He could just lay here all day, all he needed was Marta in his arms. "Good night, Marta." he whispered. He kissed her forehead and closed his eyes. "Sweet dreams." She snuggled closer to his chest and when he looked, she had a peaceful expression on her face. It was the most beautiful thing Aaron had ever seen. With that in his mind, he slid into a dreamless sleep.  
The next morning, her fever had gone down a couple of degrees. She was a little bit more aware, and took the antibiotics without him having to force her.

"Take your shirt off." Aaron ordered after midday, and he got out his medkit.

Marta, who was just drinking some water, almost choked. "What did you say?" she asked, a giggle in her voice.

"Take off your...oh." Suddenly, it dawned to him what he'd actually said. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that. I just...need to change your bandage."

Marta grinned wildly, and pulled her shirt over her head without any fuss. His face flushed, and he tried not to look at any other...parts of her body, when he started to remove the bandage. When it fell away, he wiped the disinfectant off and all that remained was a wound that had been festering yesterday, but was now looking a lot better. "Well?"

"Looks good. It'll be all good by tomorrow, maybe the day after." Aaron smiled at her, and she put a hand in his neck.

"Thank you." she murmured.

He stroked her hand and winked. Her cheeks flushed, and then he started to cover the wound again with disinfectant and a clean bandage. "You're going to be okay. I think the fever will be completely gone by tomorrow. But I want you to stay in bed until then."

She nodded and laid down. "Will you stay with me?" she asked, her voice a whisper.

He smiled, liking the idea of staying with her while she was actually awake. He nodded and leaned against the headboard. He stretched his arms out to her and she slid in between them, resting her head on his chest and looking content. "You're so beautiful." he whispered, only a split second too late to realise he'd actually said it out loud.

She looked up, a big smile covering her face. That smile made him not regret that he said it. "Well, you're not so bad, yourself." she said, her eyes gleaming with provocative fun. She slid her hand up his chest, tracing every line of his muscles. "Not bad at all." she whispered, her voice husky.

He could see the next thing coming a mile away. But that couldn't happen. Not now, not while she was this weak. He took her hands and entwined their fingers, so she couldn't continue stroking him, provoking him.  
He knew she was pushing him closer and closer to the brim of snapping, each minute she was around him. Unintentionally, of course. He couldn't be around her and not feel an enormous attraction towards her. "Marta, stop. You're too weak." he said softly, not sounding angry in any way, he was just trying to protect her.

She chuckled and nodded, resting her head back on his chest again. "I know. I got a little...carried away."

"However understandable," he joked and she laughed - oh, how he loved that laugh, "I can't take advantage of you this way. It wouldn't be right."

Marta closed her eyes, and she was still smiling. "That's so sweet. You're my Prince Charming."

Aaron laughed at that. Right. If he was Prince Charming, then Byer was Santa Claus. "Alright, beautiful. Rest for a while, why don't you?" At the word 'beautiful', she grinned widely and snuggled closer.

"Okay. Only if you stay with me." she warned him.

If he could, he'd never leave her. "Always." he promised. He closed his eyes and melted under her touch and her warm body. "Rest. We won't have much time to after today, I'm afraid."

"I could rest everywhere in any circumstances, I just need you with me." Well, that was flattering, to say the least.

"Okay. Just go to sleep." How many times would he be saying that today? He caressed her face, simply because he could, and she dozed off pretty quickly at that. It took Aaron a bit longer to go to sleep. His mind was still racing with images of a life with her beyond all this.  
What he saw was so white-picket-fence that it was laughable, if it hadn't been extremely sad. He knew he could never have that life with her.  
So he pushed it away.  
What remained were strong images of the ideas and feelings she'd awoken in him when she'd stroked him. Things he'd like to do with her, to her, for her. He wanted, so badly, to worship her body, make her want him, too. But they weren't even passed the awkwardness of their feelings. Yes, it was all still a bit awkward, at least for him. These feelings didn't always exist. They'd grown over the past few weeks, with every second that they'd spend together, with her protecting and taking care of him and him doing the same for her. They'd snuck up on him. He hadn't realised they were there until it was actually too late.  
And now here Marta and Aaron were. Laying together, his arms protecting her. They'd survived yet another attack on their lives, but barely. The last thing he wanted was to destroy the bond they had by becoming girlfriend-boyfriend. God, it even sounded weird. He couldn't be a normal boyfriend. He didn't even know what love was and meant exactly. How could he be a decent boyfriend to her?  
Of course, they could become friends with benefits, but that didn't sit with him very well. She deserved far better than that.  
And friends...it was far too late to be just friends, he knew that much.  
So what would they become? Somewhere in between friends and a couple?  
It was excruciating not to know the answers to these questions.

Suddenly, she stirred and groaned, and his eyes flew open, he must've dozed off after all. "No...don't...please! Don't hurt him!" Another nightmare. She'd gone from zero in a week to three in two days. "No, Aaron! No, please! Aaron! Please, somebody help us! Aaron! AARON!" She woke up and shot straight up, her face was covered in sweat mixed with tears. She'd been dreaming about him. From they way she'd moaned his name, he could tell something awful happened to him in her dream.

"Hey, Marta," he whispered and he pulled her back down, so that he could hold her in his arms, "it's okay, okay? Nothing's going to hurt you, you'll be fine."

She shook her head while she cried it out on his shirt. He let her. "It's not me I'm worried about." she mumbled, her voice thick with fear and tears.

"Who then?" he asked, although he could venture a guess.

"You. I keep dreaming of them hurting you in front of me. And it's terrifying. After they...after they're done with you, they start with me...hurting me in a horrible way..."

Aaron could imagine it all too well, and the idea of them torturing Marta was terrifying. "Oh, Marta...I won't let anyone hurt you."

"...but it doesn't hurt anymore, Aaron. I don't feel a thing after they're done with you. It's like I'm floating above all that, and they violate my body in the most cruel way, and I can't do a thing but stare and hover helplessly over your lifeless body. It made me realise that they'd do the worst thing that can be done to me by hurting you. After that, nothing else matters, I just go numb." She was finally done talking and the emotions started overtaking her again. He rocked her gently in his arms, he couldn't find the right words to say to soothe her.

"I'm not going to let anything happen to you." he whispered in the end.

"I don't care about that." She looked up in his eyes and he saw fierce determination. He knew that look. She had it when she refused to leave him when he was ill. "I want you to promise me that you'll be careful." When he didn't say anything, she grasped his hands, rolled on top of him and pinned his wrists to the headboard. He liked this Marta. Dominant, secure. Like an agent. "Promise me, Aaron. Promise me that you'll at least try."

He smirked at her because of the position they were in, but nodded. "I promise."  
She smiled satisfied and rolled off of him again. "Didn't you like it up there? I know I liked your dominant move." he murmured in her ear. She chuckled and traced her finger past his abs and stomach.

"I did, as a matter of fact. But like you said, not now. I don't want this to happen while you have lack of sleep and I'm still half in a feverhaze. I want this to happen when we're both completely conscious."

However did he get so lucky with her? This was exactly what he wanted and more. How was it that she loved him? How could she love a man who could easily snap her neck as if it was a twig? "Marta?" She hummed contently in response. "I love you." She looked up, her face all lightened and a happy smile on her face. They just stared at each other for some time, and then she kissed him. A kiss that sent his mind reeling.

"I love you, too. How can I not?" When she said that, his insides sang with joy. It's all he wanted to hear. He stroked her hair and neck and she shivered. "I also love what you're doing to me right now."

He hauled her closer and pressed her head under his chin. "I can't believe that you can make me deviate from my plan to get some rest." He grabbed her wrists and spun her on her back, pinning her to the bed. She shrieked in surprise and gasped when he pressed her into the bed. "You're going to be the end of me." he groaned in the crook of her neck, and he felt her shiver beneath him. His lips roamed the skin of her neck, and it seemed like his entire body was on fire. Every nerve was feeling her, touching her, savoring her.

"Would you like me to?" she asked, and he shivered at her seductive tone. "Be the end of you, that is?"

He raked his hands through her hair and suckled at some sensitive spots. He would love to be ended by her, if it meant that he could love her to death. "Yes. But much rather than that, I'd live, and spend more time with you."

She encircled his neck with her arms and grinned wickedly. "Well, that can be arranged." She lifted her head to meet his lips and he lost himself in the kiss. Everything was forgotten, every danger, every objection to relationships, it all went straight out the window. He was determined to not remove any clothes, but what was the harm in kissing? Right? Or was there?  
God, he was confused.  
After what seemed like hours, but was only ten minutes, Aaron got back his grip on himself enough to tear himself away from her lips and he took a deep, steadying breath.  
"You got your control back, haven't you?" she asked. Her eyes were glazed over again, her voice a little unstable.

He smirked, and pecked her lips one more time before rolling off. The feeling that was washing over him right now, was...indescribable. He had never, ever lost his grip on himself like that, and he had to admit it felt good. She snuggled against him and sighed heavily. Outside, the sky became dark, and Marta's fever rose again.

"It's at breaking point." Aaron whispered, and he wound his arms around her to protect her. "You'll break through the fever tonight, Marta. It might gonna be a tough night."

She squeezed her eyes shut and coughed. It was already getting to her. "If I want to wake you up, can I?"

He looked down at her, and lifted her head gently. He didn't mind that her eyes were still shut, he could kiss her without her having her eyes open. "Of course. You can always wake me if you need me or just don't want to be alone." She smiled, reassured, and buried her face in the crook of his neck. "Sleep tight, Marta." He wished he could do the same, but he was becoming restless. They had to get out of there, they'd already stretched their stay to the limit. And when he did sleep, he had nightmares about somebody killing Marta. That would be a regular.

"Aaron? Please, Aaron, wake up." Her feeble voice penetrated his dream state. "Please, Aaron." She was definitely crying. Aaron forced his eyes open and turned to her. She was looking at him, her cheeks wet with tears, her breath came in shallow bursts.

Worry swept through him and he put a hand in her neck. "Hey. What's wrong?"

"I feel so sick." she croaked. New tears spilt over her cheeks and she took his hand for support. "I'm hot and cold at the same time, my head is spinning and I feel like I might throw up. I don't want this, Aaron, please..."

"I know. I know, Marta." He pressed her against his chest and rocked her softly. "This it the worst time, but I'll get you through it. I'm here for you, always."

"I'm glad you're with me, Aaron." she sobbed. "I couldn't have done all of what I've done without you. I wouldn't have gotten through all this." She groaned and he felt her sking burning under his hands. This is really the worst.

"You're strong. You would've survived." Aaron murmured, stroking her hair, neck and back soothingly. "If I promise to hold you through the entire night, will you be able to go to sleep then?"

She takes a shaky breath and nods. "I think so. I love you, Aaron."  
And he was falling deeper and deeper. Her soft voice uttering those three words sent him spinning and spiralling down into the abyss. One there was no way of getting out of. Definitely stuck.

He had trouble answering at first. He wasn't used to those words. But when he said them, he meant it from the bottom of his heart. "I love you, too, Marta."

She chuckled. "I love to hear you say that." Her hands slid under his shirt and she sighed content. "I could just lay like this all day."

"Yeah, me too." Since when did he become such a sucker for romance? She made him so soft when she wanted, it was almost scary. Almost. He leaned his head against hers and closed his eyes, letting her warmth envelop him, drown him until he was fast asleep.

A loud bang made him shoot straight up, with his gun in his hand. It was cold, too cold. Then came a whimper from the bathroom, and he found the spot next to him empty. Marta! He jumped up, and was at the bathroom door in a flash. "Marta? Are you okay in there?" Another whimper. That's it, he was going in. He kicked at the door and it flew open. What he saw made his heart freeze, but his mind went straight into fight-mode. An agent, probably LARX, was standing in the middle of the bedroom, his left arm tightly wound around Marta's neck and his gun pointed at the Outcome agent. Marta could barely breathe. Aaron didn't lower his gun, but he knew that the only thing that the other agent had to do, was tense his biceps and Marta would be dead.

"Let her go. She has nothing to do with this." Aaron said calmly. He didn't look Marta in the eye. He knew he'd melt if he would.

"You are with her, are you not?"

Cut of your feelings, Cross, he scolded himself. "She needed medical attention. Who am I not to give that to her?"  
The LARX agent grinned wickedly, but didn't speak again. Aaron knew exactly what was going to happen if he didn't do anything right now. "Marta? It's gonna be fine, alright?"

"Don't make promises you can't keep." How was it that this agent got distracted? Aaron couldn't fathom it, but the LARX agent did, just long enough for Aaron to dive forward, grab the gun pointed at him and bending out of its way to avoid the bullet that came from it. The LARX agent needed both arms now, since Aaron was fighting him with everything he had. Marta dropped to her knees, gasping for breath.

"Marta, go! Go!" shouted Aaron, while he was desperately working on getting the gun out of the agent's hand.

"But I...!"

"Just go, I'll find you!" He kicked the man in his shins and slapped the gun away. It glided under the bed.

Marta ran at that, Aaron heard her go out of the door and onto the street. At least she was safe. He managed to get a razor from the sink and was now fighting hand to razor with the other agent.

"Who are you?!" shouted Aaron. "Who sent you?" The LARX agent received multiple blows in the head and stomach, but barely flinched. When the razor made a cut across his face, he only took one sharp breath. He was good. The heated fight continued, Aaron mostly doing more evasive maneuvers than anything else, but neither of them really got anything out of this fight. Suddenly, Aaron had one opening and took it, punching his opponent's stomach, then took a sharp right at his jaw, and then fractured one of his ribs. The agent might've been strong, but even he couldn't withstand excruciating pain. The agent dropped to his knees, coughing, and Aaron delivered the final blow, to the lower back. It was a dirty trick, but it had to be done. This way, the agents would be incapacitated for a couple of hours. Aaron rolled the agent on his back, and planted his knee on the man's throat. "Who are you?"

"LARX agent...Dimitri Pavel." A Russian.

"Who sent you?"

The man looked at Aaron as if to say, 'are you freaking kidding me?!' "You know who sent me. Byer."

Byer. How surprising. "Then I have a message for Byer. If anyone ever follows me again, if I even think there's someone behind me, you have no idea how hard and how fast I will bring this fight to his doorstep. Tell him that I promised." Aaron jumped up, gathered his and Marta's stuff and left the hotel, leaving the LARX agent in the little bathroom.

"Aaron!" Marta was right outside, hiding in one of the small alleyways between the houses. She came out the moment she saw him.

"Marta!" he said relieved, spreading his arms for her. She ran towards him and hugged him tightly. He wound his arms around her and buried his face in her hair.

"I'm so glad you're okay. I thought..." Her voice skips.

"Shh..." shushes Aaron. "I'm fine." He stroked her hair, happy to still have her in his arms. "We have to get out of here." He released her and looked properly at her. Her eyes were red, as if she'd been crying and her face was creased with fear. "Are you okay?"

She nodded. "A little shaken up, but other than that, I'm fine."

"He didn't hurt you?"

She shook her head and sighed. "No, he just grabbed me from behind and put that gun to my head." Yet she was trembling. Like crazy.

"Hey, it's over now. I'm here. We're safe." He pulled her against him and stroked her hair. "I'll never let anything hurt you."

She starts trembling even worse and she starts to softly cry. "I'm sorry. I should be used to this now, but I was so scared he'd hurt you. And the gun to my head wasn't exactly fun either."

He chuckled. She was going to be fine. Humour was always a good sign for her. "I know, but I'm fine, you're fine, we're fine. But we have to go, now. We can't stay here any longer."

Marta pushed herself away from him and took a deep breath. That was all it took for the fire to return in her eyes. Her face hardened, her back straightened and she nodded. "Of course. Where do we go?"

"Mariveles, and after that, Cape Town. Provided Bourne is still there."

"How do you know he's there in the first place?"

Aaron shrugged, handed her her bags and took her hand. "He has the same way of thinking. He tries to avoid being caught, but he does exactly what I expect him to. If I calculated correctly, he should be in Cape Town."

"So he uses a certain pattern?"

They walked down the shallow street, no heading whatsoever. Aaron hadn't thought that they'd be going away so suddenly. He hadn't rented a car as of yet. "I guess you could call it that. We all have a certain pattern when it comes to disappearing. Agents can decipher other agent's patterns if we study it well enough. I discovered a certain triangular motion in Bourne's movements. If he follows the same pattern, he will be in Cape Town next. Or it's all just a complete coincidence, and we're headed completely in the wrong direction, wasting most of our precious 10 thousand dollars."

The shock on her face was priceless, and he couldn't help himself but laugh. That infuriated her. "Don't laugh, you ass! So basically, either we're right and we'll find Bourne, or we're wrong and that'll be the end of it?"

He chuckled, and she whacked him pretty hard in the arm. He laughed harder at that, somehow this was all very amusing. "I'm so sorry, I'm not laughing at you per se..."

He looked at her and saw that she was fighting very hard to hold back her own laugh. "This is not funny." Her voice broke slightly at "not", and the laughter he almost had under control, broke free again. Then she broke, too and they walked towards the little haven in town, laughing together, their troubles forgotten. For the moment. 'Cause they still didn't have a car.

"What do we do now, agent Cross?" she asked when the laughter subsided.

"Gotta get a car somewhere." he murmured, scanning the area.

"There must be a car rental around here."

Aaron shrugged. He had no invention to renting a car after all this. They had to get away faster and cheaper. "There is. But we're not going there. We're going to the harbor, and there we'll borrow a car." He braced himself for her reaction, and he wasn't disappointed.

"You mean...steal?!" she hissed under her breath. He smiled half-heartedly and nodded. "Have you gone insane?"

"Already was, Marta."

"But..."

He stopped her, his expression serious. "We have to get out of here fast, this is the only way. We'll leave it at the airport."

He saw that Marta realised that he was right, but that she didn't like it. She settled for an annoyed growl, and he couldn't help but grin. It was too adorable, her sense of righteousness.  
At the harbor, they found a small Toyota, out of sight from the workers. Aaron broke the glass and opened the door, getting in and opening the passenger side for Marta. She mumbled something about 'under protest' before she got in. He grinned, while he got the car up and running by connecting the right wires. Then he drove off. It was a thirty minute trip, one they drove in utter silence. Marta was leaning her head against the window, staring at the scenery that whizzed passed, while infrequently she scratched at her shoulder. The wound would leave a nasty scar, not unlike many of his. He didn't care much about his scars, but he hated himself for getting her into situations she would get scars in.

Thirty minutes came came went and after 40 minutes, Mariveles, and the airport, came in sight. Aaron got out and was quickly to get to the other side to offer Marta help. She stayed put however, bent over a notepad. When she straightened up, he was able to see that it was a description to where this car was found. "Otherwise, it'll never get back to its owner." She put the note on the dashboard and accepted his hand, letting him pull her out of the car. "Thank you, sir." she said, smiling at his decency.

"My pleasure." He took her bag from her, and they left the car behind in the parking lot of the airport.

"Have you got tickets?"

"Only have to pick a flight and pay for them. I want you to stay close to me. Don't leave my sight." He took her hand and squeezed softly. He had to keep her with him, at all costs.

"I won't, I promise." She laid her head on his shoulder and they walked in content silence to the small airport. It was quiet inside, not many people traveled this early in the morning. According to the schedule, these was one flight going directly to Cape Town, with two stops, leaving in exactly 30 minutes. They had to be fast.

"Two tickets to Cape Town, please." said Aaron to the lady behind the counter.

"Yes, sir. Do you prefer a class?"

"Not really."

"Yes," countered Marta, much to his surprise, "cheapest, please."

He looked sideways to her, and frowned. "What are you doing?"

"Saving money. We need it, Aaron. Let's not waste it on an expensive first class seat."

"Very clever." He put his hand on her shoulder for just a moment, then turned his attention back to the lady. "You heard my beautiful companion. Cheapest ones you have."

The lady nodded, looking not so pleased. "Yes, sir. That will be eight hundred US dollars, please." While he was paying, she rambled on. "Your flight will be leaving in twenty minutes from gate 2, sir. All baggage has to be labelled - here are the labels - and handed to customs officers if asked for it. We will not be bought, bribed or threatened here. No aerosols or bottles will be taken onto the plane, you'll have to buy nutritional supplements on the plane. Report of all knives, scissors or razors present in your luggage at customs is required." He was handed the tickets. "AeroMalaysia will not be held responsible for loss of luggage. Have a nice trip." Aaron half-expected there to come more, but there didn't, so he and Marta escaped quickly, Marta chuckling.

"That was...reassuring." she said, her voice slipping at the last syllable. He smirked at her and took her bag from her, being the perfect gentleman that he was.

"I can't disagree with you on that. I mean, how many times do knives and guns get through security?"

"It's gonna happen today, isn't it?"

He sighed, suddenly feeling the weight of the gun in his bag. It was wrapped up in tinfoil to block X-rays, but he was unnerved. What if it did show up on the screen? They'd be in deep trouble. The unnerving feeling got worse when the approached the customs officer's desk. He gave Marta a fake passport and gave his to the woman behind the desk.

"Have a good trip, Mr Monroe." He nodded at hearing his undercover name, and stepped aside for Marta to hand in her own. "Good trip, Mrs Monroe." The lady had very good senses. Very good. It would make things easier if she'd be questioned about them.

"Thank you." said Marta, smiling softly, then taking Aaron's hand and pulling him with her. "Come on, honey, we don't want to miss our honeymoon." she chimed, smiling broadly.

He grinned and threw an arm around her. He pressed his lips against her ear and whispered, "Nice improvising. You're a natural."

"Thanks." she whispered. Her face was a mask of excitement, but her whisper was full of worry. He couldn't blame her. But at least she was a good performer and improviser.

"You're doing great, I got your back, don't worry." But his mood positive changed the moment he saw the detectionport and the x-ray machine. With his heart beating, he put the bags on the conveyor belt and walked through the port. It didn't go off, thank God. Then Marta went through. He saw little beads of sweat forming on her forehead. She was nervous as hell. _Please_, he thought, _please think it's the heat..._

But they came through clean. Nobody noticed the gun in his bag, nobody thought anything of Marta's nervousness. Marta gripped his hand, letting out a relieved breath. He leaned down and kissed the side of her head, as an in-love husband would do and whispered, "It's okay. You're doing fine. We got through." She nodded, staring straight ahead. The last call came and they quickly found their seats on the plane. Marta took the windowseat and Aaron slid in beside her. They had very little legspace, but he didn't care about that. They just needed to get the hell out of this place. Marta chewed her nails while she looked out of the window. The fingers of her other hand were drumming the elbow rest nervously. At first, he let her, but when the drumming got louder when they didn't take off, he took her hand in his, rubbing gentle circles on the back of her hand to calm her. Her head whipped to him, her eyes were wide with tension. "Take it easy." he murmured. She leaned her head back and stared straight ahead. Finally the plane started to taxi to the runway, and her hand tensed in his. He pinched softly. They were out of here. They'd made it. She closed her eyes when the plane started to speed up - she didn't like take-off at all - and her other hand gripped the elbow rest until her knuckles turned white. "Come on, Marta. It's okay." he murmured, and at that moment they broke contact with the runway and they were up in the air. Marta inhaled sharply and let it out. Her hands relaxed and she opened her eyes, looking at him.

"We're up." she mouthed.

He nodded. "We're up." They had a lot of time to relax now. She took a deep, steadying breath and then her beautiful smile appeared, the smile he wanted to keep there forever, so he could look at it forever.

"I'm sorry for my nervous breakdown. I just had a feeling they'd catch us." she murmured. She looked exhausted and relieved. "Hold me?" she asked, insecure.

She didn't need to ask. He'd always hold her if he could. He put his arm around her and, when the seatbelts light went out, he took off his and hers and pulled her completely in his arms. "Of course. And it's okay that you were nervous. I was, too."

"Really?" He was surprised at the surprise in her voice. "But with you, nobody notices. Your face was just calm and relaxed as ever."

He shrugged. "Training, I guess." He didn't like to talk about that. She knew enough about his training. He wanted to know her, and he wanted to get to know Kenneth James Kitsome. The man he was behind Aaron Cross. The man he could never go back to, but would always be part of. "But everybody is nervous when going through customs. It's always a guess if that thing goes off, yes or no. Nobody thought anything of it, I promise."

She ran her finger down the line of his chest, and goosebumps emerged in its wake. He tightened his arms around her. "Can't stand it?"

"Can't get used to it." He ran a finger down her spine and she shivered, causing him to laugh. "You either, I see." Her hand landed flat on his chest, and he chuckled in her neck to prevent it from becoming to loud. She giggled softly and then sighed contently.

"Well, at least we're safe for now. How did you get a passport for a Mr Monroe?"

"Made one. I thought it would be better if we traveled as husband and wife. Less conspicuous."

She chuckled. "You won't hear me complaining." He reached down and put a hand on her hip, gently rubbing his thumbs into her skin, making her squeal softly. "Aaron, what in the world are you doing?"

"Just following instinct, as always."

She grabbed his hand and entwined her fingers with his. "Well, don't stop."

He allowed his thumb to continue the rubbing motion, now on the back of her hand and she closed her eyes. Suddenly he blurted out, "You're so beautiful." She looked up to him, her face a mask of surprise and shock, and, while she did open her mouth, no sound came out. He started to blush, his cheeks were burning, and he stumbled over his own words when he said, "I - I - I'm so sorry, I don't know why I just said that."

She shook her head, regaining a bit of her posture. "You don't think I'm beautiful, than?"

"O-of course, I do! I just...surprised you, and me as well. I hadn't planned on saying that. Not now." Oh, he was blundering so bad, it was just embarrassing. "You know what? We are just forgetting that I made this mistake, from the moment I started apologizing. The moment I called you beautiful stays."

She smiled, pushed herself up and kissed him. "Square deal."

The flight would be long. They would have two stops before they'd finally reach Cape Horn. But he knew he wouldn't mind, because Marta would be with him. He looked over her head out the window and what he saw amazed him. He'd never looked out of a window of a plane and amazed himself about the view. The clouds were pristine white, building up beneath them and he could honestly say he had never realized how beautiful that sight was. He rested his head back, while he still held Marta in his arms and was staring out the window.  
Yes, this was going to be a very enjoyable trip.

* * *

**I'm sorry for the quotation marks-issue. I wrote this on my phone, so the single quotation mark is easier. It's all solved now.**


	4. In Flight

**In Flight**

"Ladies and gentlemen, we are currently descending to Cape Horn International Airport. Remember that it's 7 am here, not 13 pm. Estimated time of arrival: 7:45 in the morning. The pilot would like to thank you for flying AeroMalaysia. Have a nice day." Aaron opened his eyes to the blinding daylight and found his legs asleep and Marta sprawled out on top of his lap, his arms wrapped around her. She couldn't have looked more beautiful at that moment.

"Marta, honey, we're here." Keeping up pretenses? Or meaning it? Maybe a bit of both. But he used her real name. Which was kind of stupid.

Marta woke up, she'd been sleeping most of the time, and buckled her seatbelt as the descent became more steep. She sat up, stretched her legs and arms and groaned softly. "Hey stranger." she murmured, and then she looked out the window. "Cape Town?"

He nodded, looking past her out the window, where the yellow-colored ground came closer really fast. '"Welcome to South-Africa. Where there's unity in diversity." He sounded like a salesman, but Marta chuckled.

"Have I slept since our last stop?"

Aaron stroked her arm absentmindedly and nodded. "Yep. And no nightmares, which is kind of surprising."

She shivered at his touch and took his hand from her arm to stop it. She kept it between her hands, though. "Maybe I was just so tired."

"Yeah, well, that's not changing for a day or two. When we start thinking about sleeping, it's three o'clock here. We can't sleep until it's actually time to sleep. Jet-lag."

She frowned, her beautiful face wrinkling with dislike. "Great. That means I'm going to look horrible."

"Not as horrible as you looked when you were ill." Aaron wasn't sure if that would reassure her, but she smiled at his comment, so he just let it be. They touched down at 7:45 exact. Aaron unbuckled his seatbelt and started to take out their bags. He felt nervous. Second customs. Second chance to get caught. He looked at Marta, and to his surprise she didn't look nervous at all.

"Hey, are you alright?" she asked worried. It warmed him that she was worried over him.

"Yeah. Just a bit nervous. Security here is a bit tighter than in the Philippines."

Marta smiled and took his hand, squeezing it reassuringly. "It's going to be fine. We've done all this before, haven't we?"

True. But that didn't calm him exactly. Not that she needed to know that. "I know." She beckoned him, pushing herself up on her tiptoes and he knew exactly what she wanted. He leaned down and when their lips connected, all of his worries seemed to slide. "Feeling better?" To say that he was feeling better would be a tremendous understatement. He was feeling great.

"You have no idea." he murmured, his eyes still half-closed. She chuckled and ushered him forwards when the line of people started to move. When they finally got out of the plane and into the chute, he murmured to her, "You know the drill."

"Stay close, do not get out of your sight." she summed up. "And improvise. It's always good to improvise."

"Very good, Mrs Monroe." He went through the detection port first, with a nervous feeling in the pit of his stomach. If this x-ray found the gun... But nothing happened. His bag came through clean. Then Marta came through. And tripped the alarm.

Of course. It had gone far too well for them. Well, at least she didn't have anything on her, like a gun or something. A customs officer came towards her and told her to stand with her arms and legs spread. The man started to pat her arms, upper body, hips and legs. Marta suddenly looked at Aaron panicked, telling him with her eyes that the man was doing something inappropriate. And indeed, the man was going far too slow down her legs, lingering especially at her thighs.

"Hey!" shouted Aaron, yanking the man off her. "Get your hands off her!" He stood in between Marta and the customs officer, protecting Marta with his body.

"I wasn't finished!" The man said, grinning through his teeth. It was a somewhat young man, but with a gleam in his eyes that made Aaron very edgy. No, not edgy. It made Aaron want to punch him. Hard. Outcome-style.

"Get a female customs officer, then. You are not touching her again." The man opened his mouth to protest, but people were waiting and it was safe to say that Aaron didn't look friendly. At all. When the man turned, Marta let out a breath.

"Thank you."

Aaron turned and pulled her in his arms. "I would not let anything happen to you." A woman returned, smiling softly at them. Aaron explained quickly what happened, the woman spoke something in African and then listened to the answer. She nodded.

"I'm so sorry for my...colleague. He's been fired. We would like to offer you an unlimited stay at the Mandela Rhodes Place, one of our best hotels. You get to stay in any of the rooms of your liking, and all the facilities included."

Marta looked up at him, and he looked back questioningly. She nodded feverishly. "Thank you, that's very kind of you."

"It's the least we could do. We have a zero-tolerance for sexual harassment here. Workers or passengers. Consider this our way of apologizing sincerely for the behaviour of our former colleague." She handed Aaron a card which allowed them into the Mandela Rhodes Place. Wonderful. Things were finally looking up for them. 'I'm going to finish searching her, but don't worry, I won't make any unwanted moves.

Aaron nodded, but when the woman started where the man stopped, he didn't leave Marta's side again. The woman only nodded. She understood. "June, my love, are you truly alright?" he asked.

Marta looked up at him weirdly, not used to the name, but nodding anyways. "Yeah. I'm fine."

"Well, I'm terribly sorry for all the inconvenience. I hope you have a pleasant stay in Cape Town." The woman said, standing up and letting them pass. Marta held up as far as after the passport check. In the hallway, she started trembling violently and sobbing. Aaron could catch her before she sank to the floor.

It was all too much for her. Everything summed up, she had been holding up pretty damn well. The sexual harassment was too much.

"It's okay." he murmured. "I'm here, it's over now."

"I'm sorry." she murmured. "I'm overreacting."

"No, no, not at all." He stroked her hair softly, slowly easing her to calmness. "He harassed you. That's a pretty bad experience. I may not be a woman, but I get it." He hoped the joke would lighten her mood a bit. They had to get out of here.

She chuckled. "Lucky me that you're not a woman." She wiped her eyes and took a deep breath. "Let's go."

Outside, they were hit with a blast of heat. And he thought Manila was bad. He summoned a cab and they were taken to the Mandela Rhodes, which was without saying the most luxurious hotel both of them had ever seen.

They were received by a legion of employees, asking to help them. Marta eventually couldn't take it anymore and asked if everyone could please leave, 'cause she wasn't feeling so good. They left them alone after that. Aaron picked an apartment at the top floor, because it had a kitchen and it was large. Now they had this free ticket to unlimited stay here, he was going to use it. One man brought them to their rooms and after giving them the key, he left. Aaron stared in awe at the interior of the place. A separate bed- and bathroom, a kitchen, mini-bar...it was like every couple's dream. And the bedroom...oh, it was marvelous! The double bed was not just double, it was king-size, it had satin sheets and warm colors. He dropped their bags in the corner and immediately started checking out the weak spots, the escape routes and how accessible the window was. When he was done, he turned to find Marta lying on her stomach, her nose buried in the pillows and he chuckled. He sat down next to her and started rubbing her shoulders. She moaned.

"Oh, that feels so good." she said, muffled by the pillows. He felt how tense she was, so he sat up and swung one leg over her body so that he was practically straddling her. He massaged her shoulders and back gently but firmly, to get the tension out. She groaned.

"How does that feel?" he asked.

"So good." she moaned in ecstasy. Her body writhed beneath him, and the sexual tension began to show its face again. His heart started to beat faster and their words suddenly seemed loaded with sexual meanings. "Don't stop." she begged. He wouldn't. He liked massaging her. He wanted her to feel relaxed. They were safe for now, unless Bourne found them. And even if he did, he probably wouldn't kill them. They needed each other. "I didn't know you were this skilled with your hands. At least not therapeutically."

"I'm not. Just..."

"...following instinct." She laughed and to Aaron, it was the most beautiful sound he had ever heard.

"You're on to me." he said laughing. "This is all new territory for me, Marta. Let me figure this out as I go, alright?"

She took a deep breath and let it out slowly, and he just felt her relax under his hands. "I'm not judging." He massaged her in silence from that point and after thirty minutes, he felt her falling in a deep sleep. He glided off her and propped his head up on his elbow to look at her. She looked so peaceful, a small smile was playing around her beautiful lips and there was no tension at all.

"You deserve this, Marta." he murmured. "I'll watch over you." He put an arm around her tiny frame and closed his eyes.

He was so glad that she was this relaxed for once. No worries. He felt the same with her close to him. If she was safe and happy, he was too. When he heard people talk about their companion on TV or something – heard them talk about how their companion is everything in their lives, how they are their better halves – Aaron never believed it. Someone couldn't have that much control over another.  
Of course, that was before he met Marta. Before she got under his skin. Before he plummeted in love with her.  
Aaron had been surprised to even have these feelings when he finally figured it out. He'd always thought that Outcome had drilled every ounce of humanity out of him. Maybe they did, but Marta drilled it back in. He loved it, though.  
She turned in his arms and snuggled against his chest. He wound both his arms around her and let her presence soak through him, comfort him, make him sleepy...so sleepy...

The smell of bacon, eggs and coffee filled his nose when he woke up the next morning. He was twisted in the blankets(however did he end up like this?) and the other side of the bed was empty. Yet, he knew there was nothing wrong, because he could hear her rummaging around in the kitchen. He groaned, stretched and turned, slowly getting to work on the idiotic mess of blankets and his body.

"Good morning!" Marta appeared next to him and he smiled at her, suddenly feeling so...grateful and his stomach was suddenly fluttering. He felt all this in such magnitude, that he grabbed her wrist, pulled her to him and kissed her in a less than chaste way. She was surprised, but quite content at his sudden movement. "What was that for?" she asked breathlessly, when they broke apart.

"Can't a man kiss the woman he loves?"

She grinned widely, and his stomach did a double back-flip. "Coffee?" she asked, holding a steamy pot of delicious-scented coffee up at him.

Coffee. He so needed that right now. "Please! Wait, you actually made coffee?" He'd smelled it before, but he'd just thought she'd got it from the local Starbucks here. If they had one.

"Yep. My dad taught me, and I never fancied those machine-made coffee. Coffee should be made with love. Not with robots."

"Give me some of the nice coffee, then." She grinned at his words and handed him a cup. He sipped it and felt the hot liquid slide down his throat. He groaned in ecstasy. This really was good coffee. He didn't think he ever had such good coffee. "Oh, this is good."

"Thank you. My dad's grateful, too." Her smile falters and she looks down in her own cup. "He loves coffee. Can't go a day without."

Frowning, he looked at her face, while it fell, and then a tear rolled down a cheek. He shot off the bed and was with her in the next second. "Hey. Hey, what's wrong?"

"Nothing. It's stupid. I know I'm doing this for their safety, but I miss them. I miss my sister, my mother, my father. Everything I do or say reminds me of them." More tears started rolling down her face and Aaron put a finger under her chin, forcing her to look up at him.

"It's not stupid, Marta. Do you think I don't miss my parents every day? But if they know I'm alive, they'll be in danger. They're alright right now, because nobody knows they're related to me. Byer doesn't even know. It wasn't important to him. Now he needs the info, but I erased it from the records. To Byer, my parents are just a childless couple. But I miss them so much every day." When he said it like that, he actually felt that he felt that way. He missed his family so much.

She leaned her head against his chest and smiled very softly. "Well, at least we have that in common."

He held her in his arms and touched her hair lightly, not knowing what to do else, but just just following what felt right. "I promise you that we will contact your family the moment this wild goose chase ends. Okay?" She nodded and took a deep breath. They stood there, in the middle of the room, just holding each other for a while. Then she pulled back and smiled broadly.

"I made breakfast. Want some?"

Oh, how he loved her ability to switch from one mood to the other. He kissed her very tenderly and nodded. "Yeah. I'm starving."

She stroked one finger down his chest, causing him to shiver. "Well, good. Come on." She took his hand and pulled him towards the kitchen. "Toast, bacon, eggs, coffee. Not much, but..."

"...it's perfect, Marta." he said, sitting down on a stool and pulling her on his lap. She giggled and settled on his lap happily. He had to admit, she always managed to surprise him. He had suspected her to kiss him, and then take her own stool, but yet, here she was sitting on his lap, taking a bite from her toast. She obviously wasn't planning on moving soon enough. Not that he minded, per se. "This is going to make eating very difficult, Marta." he said, reaching around her to his own plate.

"Mm-hm!" she agreed, her mouth filled with a bite of toast. He grinned and pinched her sides playfully, making her jerk and yelp. "You ass!" she exclaimed, and she punched him right in the chest, knowing he would barely flinch. He laughed and caught her hand, turning it on her back so she was defenseless, and then started tickling her all over, making her squeal and beg for mercy. They literally fell off the chair and rolled over the ground, until the mini-bar stopped them. They lay panting and laughing, him on top of her, their faces inches apart. It felt almost alien, to have this kind of fun. As if death wasn't following them everywhere they went. "Please!" she exclaimed breathlessly, the loss of breath making it harder to laugh. He worried that she might choke. "God, I can't take it anymore!" That, of course, was reason enough for Aaron to continue. She screamed and laughed and tried to evade his clever hands. "Please, I'll do anything!"

He stopped, grinning mischievously. He felt like a teenage boy, lying there with her under him, laughing and tickling. "Anything?" he asked daring.

She stopped laughing. "Am I in serious trouble?"

He lowered his head to her neck and slowly started teasing her neck with his lips. She moaned, grabbing his shoulders to try and push him off. "Not really." He bit down on some sensitive skin and she yelped. "Okay, maybe a little."

She put her arms around his neck and finally surrendered, pulling him in. "This good enough for you?"

"Ha! You wish!" he murmured, and leaned in for another kiss. Seriously, he hadn't ever felt so alive before. It was...pure bliss.

"Then what do you want from me?" She knew very well that that was a dangerous question to ask a former Outcome agent. Aaron saw that she knew. Yet she asked.

The fact that she asked made him uncomfortable, but not the bad kind. Old urges came back to the surface, urges he had a hard time controlling. "You don't want to ask that." He was spiraling. He had to take control, now.

"I thought I just did." she said defiantly.

He growled low under his breath, and he instinctively knew that he was close to breaking. Which meant he'd tear her clothes from her body and further. "Stop. You have no idea..." He closed his eyes and tried to roll off her. Tried, but failed. His body didn't respond to reason. It liked her beneath him far too much. Aaron Cross, Outcome agent and a definition of control, had just lost control.

"Aaron? What's wrong?"

"Get away. Get away from me. Now, before I do something I might regret." She pushed him off and sat down on the couch behind them. He stayed down, regaining his control. He hated this. Why couldn't he just have some fun with Marta without completely losing his cool? "I'm so sorry, Marta, I – I shouldn't have ruined this." He sat up and buried his face in his hands. Fucking training. Fucking urges. About now, he hated everything and everyone, except Marta. He could never hate her.

She crouched down next to him and put a hand on his shoulder. "It's okay, Aaron. If you want to take it slow..."

"But I don't want to take it slow, and that's exactly my problem. I want you, Marta. But my training, my urges...they prevent that. I haven't been with anybody...not like I'm with you. I don't know – " God, his pride almost didn't allow him to say it, " – I don't know how to love. I know for sure that I love you. But I don't know how to love you. Properly. Like a man should love a woman. And I'm certainly not used to worshipping a woman's body. I...I just..."

She put her arms around him and held him close to her. "It's okay. I'll always be here. We'll take it at your pace. And I will help you through every bump you might hit. I promise."

He wrapped his arms around her shoulders and buried his face in her hair, taking comfort. "How are you so perfect?" he asked softly, his stormy grey eyes staring up in her calm, brown ones.

She just chuckled. "I'm not perfect. I just love you. So much." They just sat against the couch, arms wound around each other.

"But you are perfect. Only a perfect woman wouldn't leave me. Every other woman would've left me already. But you...you stayed." He looked up to her, and he could honestly say he had never seen such a beautiful sight. "You have patience with me where I have already lost it."

"That's what a lover is for. I can wait, just because I love you. Waiting will make it all worthwhile when we are ready."

"You're willing to wait?" he asked, making sure she knew what she was doing.

She nodded and kissed the crown of his head. "I'll always wait for you."

And that was when he knew. He knew she was the one, his perfect match, equal yet opposite. His soul mate. The realization filled him with warmth and love and...all kinds of feelings he couldn't name. "I love you so much, Marta." he said, and pulled her down to kiss her. "You are so perfect in every way."

Because she knew it held no point as to argue with him on that, she smiled, and her lips crashed down on his, making him all floaty in the head. "I'm yours, Aaron. Always."

So, by the time they finally got up from the ground, their breakfasts had turned cold, which forced Marta to warm it up again. Aaron felt like he was in heaven, as if watched her work passionately in the kitchen. That was his Marta. Someone was actually his, without that someone being a hostage. She stayed with him out of free will, not because he forced her to.  
It wouldn't be long before this blissful moment would be pierced. They still had to search for Bourne. They still had to convince him not to kill them. Which would be a challenge by itself. And then Aaron didn't even add to that that they had to persuade him to help them. They were in for a challenge.

Marta placed his plate in front of him. "Your turn tomorrow."

"Sure, if you have suicidal tendencies." he said smirking. He could cook well enough, but that was survival food. Not this exquisite taste.

She shrugged and kissed his lips ever so lightly. "I'll take my chances." She sat down, next to him this time, and started eating. She stopped however, when she felt his stare on her. "What?" she demanded.

He shook his head and concentrated on the food. "Sorry. I'm just...admiring you, I guess."

She blushed heavily and let her long brown hair fall down to hide her face. "You're making me blush, Mr Cross." she said softly.

He grinned, scooted closer and tucked her hair back behind her ear. "Do I now, Miss Shearing?"

She smiled and kissed his fingers. "You do." Her soft, warm lips are like heaven on his rough skin, and he closed his eyes. "Now you are, too."

Aarons hand flew to his cheek and then felt the warmth spreading there. "Let's not be ashamed of this." he suggested. He leaned in and kissed her neck, but she quickly led him to her mouth, kissing him fiery. Before either of them took it too far, they broke apart, panting heavily. How could this woman make him so romantic? He just wanted to kiss her all the time, which was just so vanilla for him.  
After breakfast, they quickly dressed and left the hotel, into the blistering heat. Marta wore a cute pair of red shorts and a black v-neck top, dark sunglasses and her hair was pulled back in a ponytail. She looked incredibly sexy.

"So. Where do we start?" she asked. He snorted. Good question. He should probably start by running through databases.

"Somewhere small. Secluded. I need to run through some databases."

She patted the bag she was carrying. "Got the laptop right here."

"What would I do without you?" he said, while they settled in an outdoor cafe. While Marta ordered coffee, Aaron started up the computer and leaned back. "Would you do something for me?" He handed her his iPhone and typed in his password on the computer.

"For you always." she said.

He smiled lightly, he liked to hear that. The sun was already blazing, and soon, they'd have to move. "Find a photo of Bourne for me. Pretty recent preferably."

She nodded. "Let me hack into the CIA database."

He raised his brows and looked at her surprised. She could do that? impressive. "Okay. I'll hack into every hotel, bank and club database I can find. With a recent picture, we could cross-reference."

"You honestly think he'd leave a trace?" she asked, while she was typing away on the phone.

Probably not. "If he did, I'll find it." He had to. They'd be positively screwed if he wouldn't. Where to begin? Would Bourne leave any trace?

"Aaron? Every trace of Bourne has been wiped out of the system." she said, after a while, frustrated, handing him the phone. He looked at it with one eye and sighed. They couldn't do much without a picture. She bit her thumbnail and thought for a second. "Wait a second." She snatched the phone back and started typing furiously. "You're Kenneth Kitsom."

"I know. Your point?" he asked, not getting it.

"Jason Bourne has an original name, too."

Of course. How could Aaron forget. "You are brilliant, Marta. Truly." he said, pinching her hand. One problem though. "Do you know it?"

"David Webb." She was truly amazing. Aaron started sifting through hotel-databases, looking for pictures he recognized. After 30 minutes and 50 hotels, his eyes hadn't done it for him, but luckily, at that moment, Marta got a hit. "Yes! I don't have a picture of him per se, they literally wiped out his entire file. But his name is mentioned once, in a different file." She put the phone in front of him. It showed a picture of a short-haired, blond woman. "Nicolette Parsons, 33. She was Webb's wife before Treadstone."

This surprised Aaron. David Webb had a wife? "Wow. Attractive young lady." He saw her glance at him and he smiled. "Not as attractive as you, Marta, don't get your panties in a pretzel."

She shook her head at his weird use of language, which made him laugh. "Anyway. She was Treadstone in Paris, she did communications. A year later, during the Blackbriar-affair, she disappeared off the radar, after leaving two men dead in an apartment. They think she went with Bourne."

"So if we cross-reference this picture with every database in the city and get a hit..."

"...we know where Bourne is." she said excitedly, grabbing his hand. He smiled broadly at her.

"I like your style, miss Shearing." he said grinning, hooking the phone to the laptop.

"Thanks. Can you find anything?"

He laughed at her enthusiasm, it was very cute. "Hang on a minute, Marta, it has to be set up first." The laptop indicated that the phone was recognized, and Aaron got the picture from it into the computer. He pressed it, and clicked 'cross-reference'. He leaned back. All they could do now was wait. Their coffee was served minutes later, and they sipped quietly. They didn't need to talk, they just could sit next to each other without talking, feeling comfortable. She took his hand suddenly and pressed her lips against his fingers. He rolled his head on his left shoulder to look at her and smiled. She smiled back and closed her eyes while she leaned her head against his hand. He lifted his other hand and caressed her cheek. She leaned her face into his hand, sighing deeply.

"Don't stop." she whispered. Her fingers entwined with his and Aaron felt like he could take on the world with her. He felt like he was floating above everything else, not bothering with Bourne or Parsons or Byer, just him and Marta alone. It was the most wonderful feeling he'd ever had. He hadn't even realized that their lips had connected, but they had and now they were kissing, her lips softly pressing on his. "Aaron?" she whispered.

"Marta." he said, mocking her in the same, soft whispering voice.

She chuckled. "" Aaron! You've got a match!"

He knew that...wait, what? He pulled away from her, and focused on the screen. Nicolette Parsons' picture had drawn a match! "Evelyn Kamal! You are honestly brilliant, Marta, thank you!" He looked at her file. "She's an immigrant! Evelyn Kamal, 32, recently immigrated from America. She's married! Tom Kamal, 42, also immigrated! They've been married for seven months!" She looked at him, obviously not understanding his enthusiasm. "Seven months ago was when Bourne got off the radar!"

Marta's eyes lit up and shoved her chair closer to his, leaning her head on his shoulder to look at the file. "Got a picture of this Tom?"

Aaron grinned widely and clicked Tom's name. "I do, actually."" The picture popped up and Marta squealed.

"It's him!" She threw her arms around his neck and hugged him, while he laughed relieved. It was him. Bourne. They'd found him.

Suddenly, the laptop was smacked closed. "It's me."


	5. The Meeting

**I just noticed that I screwed up the quotation marks AGAIN. I'm really sorry guys. Bare with me on that for a day or two, I will work on that this weekend. I can't right now, 'cause I have to baby sit, but I WILL update this one ASAP. God, I feel bad.**

**UPDATE: Quotation marks are FIXED! Thank you for your patience.**

* * *

**The Meeting**

Marta and Aaron looked up, frozen. Aaron was the first to recover, though. He shot up, his gun loaded and the safety off. "Bourne."

"Yes." Bourne said, smirking. "Now can you tell me how the fuck you found me?"

Somehow, Aaron got really angry. "Guess you got sloppy. You were too easy to find, Bourne. But I see that I shouldn't have gone through so much trouble. If I would've put up a sign saying 'Jason Bourne, please report to this lovely little café", you would've shown up either way." He didn't know why he said that. He just knew that he had to duck before Bourne's fist connected with his head.

"Aaron!" Marta exclaimed.

"Now, I'm gonna ask you again! How did you find me so easy?!"

Aaron threw his gun on the table. He somehow felt that he had to stand up to this guy. He was very rude and annoying. "It was very sloppy work you did. You were too easy to find!"

"Mr. Bourne, please. We just want to talk…" started Marta, but Bourne cut her off.

"Shut up!" he yelled at her. But that's where he crossed a line. Aaron lunged himself over the table, completely forgetting the gun, punching Bourne right in the chest.

"Stop!" shrieked Marta, sounding desperate.

Aaron didn't listen. He punched Bourne over and over again. "You will never speak to her that way! You understand me?! Never!"

"Stop it! Both of you, stop it!" Bourne and Aaron looked up and saw Marta standing, the gun aimed right at them. "Break apart, now." Her voice was steady and confident, and Aaron smiled. That was his Marta. He rose and stepped away from Bourne, who was smiling, too.

"Quite a partner you got there." he said.

"I know, she's amazing." Marta smiled momentarily, her cheeks flushed red.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Bourne. I said we just wanted to talk."

Bourne nodded, raised his hands and signaled that he was going to sit down. Marta followed his every move. "Listen, miss...?"

"Monroe. June Monroe."

Bourne looked like he didn't believe her, but nodded. "Okay, miss Monroe. I just wanted to know how you found me so easily."

"Cross-reference. We just want to talk here." Aaron said down, deeply enjoying what he was seeing.

"Drop it!" A blonde woman appeared behind Marta suddenly and pressed something against her back. Marta froze for a second and then whirled around, pointing the gun at the woman, who was also holding a gun.

"Nicky. It's okay, take the gun from miss Monroe's head."

Nicky! Nicky Parsons. Wonderful. This was not going somewhere. "Look, let's all just drop our guns and sit down and talk, shall we?"

Marta looked at him, and he nodded reassuringly. She grudgingly disarmed the gun and threw it on the table, throwing all three of them a dirty look. Nicky kept her gun raised, now trained at Aaron. "Nicky, it's fine." Bourne said. She stayed where she was for a couple of seconds, before following Marta's example and throwing the gun down. Aaron visibly relaxed. Marta was out of danger. "Now. You wanted to talk, so let's talk. But before that, I want to know who you are."

Guess, he had to give him that much. They needed each other. "Aaron Cross. I'm Outcome." he said. "You're Treadstone."

Bourne looked confused for the first time. "Another program?" Aaron nodded and Bourne sighed. "They never learn."

He turned to Marta, looking at her questioningly. She sighed. "Fine. Dr. Marta Shearing."

"Nicky Parsons." Nicky said, still standing and angry.

"Okay, so now we've all met. What do you want?"

Aaron found it hard to know where to begin, but Marta did the job for him. "We want to end this. Once and for all. We're tired of running, and we know you are, too. We think we can help."

"How?"

"Marta, why don't we just start at the beginning?" suggested Aaron. Marta nodded, wetted her lips nervously and started talking from the beginning. Aaron filled in where she couldn't, and together they told the story to Bourne and Nicky. After nearly an hour of explaining and patiently answering questions, they neared the end.

Bourne looked at them when they finally finished and rubbed his face, while he let the story sink in. "So…" The waitress interrupted them to take Nicky and Jason's order. "So, Outcome was another program? A chems program? And these chems…they controlled your mind, or somethin'?"

Marta nodded. "Yes. The blue chems did something to the mind, made the subjects more dependent, but also a hell of a lot smarter. The greens enhanced the body, the muscles. It was a deadly combination. But the problem was that those pills could get lost, or taken from a subject. Let's just say that the results would be…extremely unpleasant." Aaron looked at Marta while she talked passionately about her work. It was such a shame she couldn't bring it out in the open, and that she had to quit. This was her passion. "So we thought of a new way. Viralling out." She kept on talking about the test until everything was said.

"Fuck. This is big, Dr. Shearing. This could help our case." For the first time, Bourne actually looked excited. "What do we have to do?"

Aaron decided to just let Marta do the talking. It was too much of an enjoyment to watch her get all worked up about their freedom. "We have to testify. You aren't reliable, Mr Bourne, no disrespect, because of your memory loss. We," she looked at Nicky and Aaron, and pointed at herself, "we are. We have our memories intact. We know what happened before we went rogue."

Bourne bit his lip. "I see. How will we handle this?"

Marta looked for help at Aaron. He smiled and nodded. "We need to help Pamela Landy."

"I helped Pam out with data. She can handle it." said Bourne

Aaron shook his head and repositioned himself. "No, the data wasn't enough. She's losing his footage. It's too much to handle. She can't hold it off for long. I've seen it."

"Fuck." Bourne murmured. "What does she need?"

"Us. Witness statements. She needs us to testify. All of us." Aaron added, looking at Marta and Nicky.

"Fine. We'll do it."

Marta sat up, worry in her eyes. "Wait, you're suggesting that we go back to the States?" Aaron nodded. "That's crazy! You'll get caught and killed before Byer lets you walk into the courtroom!"

"Marta, I..."

"No! I will not let you go back to the States on a suicide mission!" Aaron loved the fire that was burning in her eyes right now. He honestly believed that she wouldn't let him go.

"Miss Shearing, I promise you, if we plan this exactly right, nothing will go wrong." said Bourne quietly. The corner of his mouth was tipped up, he was obviously amused with Marta.

"Really?"

"I speak from experience." he said, sounding reassuring. Marta frowned and sat back. Aaron took her hand and smiled when she looked anxiously at him. It was going to be okay. Bourne would help them.

"Let me get one thing straight." Nicky said, leaning forward, a look on her face that hovered between confused and hopeful. "If we succeed, and that's a big if, then we'll be free to live wherever and do whatever we want? Without people trying to kill us all of the time?"  
Bourne and Cross nodded at the same time. "We'll do it." she said immediately after that. Bourne looked surprised. "If this can get us our freedom, Jason, then we'll do it." The fire in her eyes resembled Marta's.

"Fine." Bourne said. "Meet me at Stu's Cafe, in the main centre of town, tomorrow at exactly 1pm. One minute later, and I'm gone. If you were somehow compromised or followed, you will go to the Grand Hotel at exactly three pm. That's where I'll be then. If you were followed a second time, I'm gone " He stood up, and he and Nicky walked away, they crossed the street, a bus passed by and they were gone. Impressive.

Marta shoved her chair closer to him. "Aaron, should we do this?" She looked up with honesty in her eyes, her brown hair falling shading them a bit.

Aaron took her hand and pressed his lips against it. "This could mean we could be free. Free to do what we want. You could live in the States. You could go home."

"Me? No, I won't go anywhere without you." she murmured.

Aaron's heart jumped at her words. He beckoned her, and she stood up, enabling him to pull her on his lap. He wrapped his arms around her and held her close. "I will stay with you, then." he whispered.

She smiled and leaned her head on his shoulder. "Whatever happens, I want to be with you." She kissed his neck softly, and his head fell back, enjoying her touch. His hands slid down her back and he felt her shiver. Her warm lips latched onto his neck and he involuntarily groaned. His hands tightened their hold on her back and pulled her closer to him.

"To what do I owe this?" he whispered in her ear.

"I just hate the idea of losing you." she murmured. "Not after all we've been through."

Aaron felt love swoon him over and he hugged her tightly. He literally didn't know what to say right now, so he just held her tightly, while she kissed his neck. When the waitress came with Bourne and Nicky's order, but since they were gone, Aaron and Marta accepted it.

"So. We've found Bourne." Marta said, releasing Aaron and taking a sip from Nicky's cappuccino.

Aaron nodded, downing Bourne's black coffee. "Yeah. That went a lot faster than I expected."

"So, what do we do now?" she asked. He had to fight to ignore the suggestive nature of the question, just as she visibly had to fight the urge to say it suggestively. God, he wanted her so bad, but he just knew he couldn't be gentle with her if he'd lose control. Not yet anyway.

"A little sightseeing?" he suggested, but he couldn't keep out the hoarse sound in his voice.

"Sure. What do you suggest?"

"Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens. I've heard it has quite a sight."

Marta grinned. "Really? I've heard it's perfect for romantic strolls." She leaned into him, wrapped her arms around his neck, her lips inches from his.

He grinned widely and suddenly closed the gap between them, pressing his lips on hers. "Perfect. Let's go."

"What...? Now?" she said astonished. Oh she can be so cute.

"Yes, babe. Now." He stood up and she literally fell from his lap. She would've kept on falling if he hadn't steadied her.

She punched his chest playfully and laughed. "Fine, you ass. We'll go now. And that's a fine ass, too." He chuckled, threw his laptop in the backpack, paid for all the drinks and they left for the Gardens.

Oh, and it was beautiful. The palm trees, the grass, the flowers. Inside those Gardens, everything felt like there was peace. Screw the CIA, they were past that. Nothing would hurt them. Marta's arm was wound around his and her head was on his shoulder. He felt peaceful, like he always did when they were like this.

"I feel safe and happy, Aaron." she whispered as they walked. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and leaned his head on hers.

"So do I." He pressed his lips against her ear. "I love you."

"Good. 'Cause I love you, too."

The day passed in a blur, they just visited every sight within walking distance. They ate at this very cosy, romantic restaurant, under the setting sun. Aaron literally couldn't take his eyes off her. Her brown hair was just so shiny when in the setting sun, and her smile was just so...bright. As if she wanted to protect the entire world from any kind of harm there ever could be done.

He reached over the table and grabbed her hand, just because he could. It felt good. She looked up to him, those big brown puppy dog eyes staring at him. And then she smiled again, but this time it was just for him. This was preserved for him. The one she loved more than anything else. And he got it. A man who had barely enough humanity left in him to feel something for her, and not enough to keep him from harming her should he lose control. It was...unthinkable, for him. However could she love him, while he was such a monster?

"Aaron!" Marta said, suddenly, pinching his hand. He looked up. "Don't. Don't do that to yourself. I can just see you thinking yourself down. Don't. You are just your imperfect you, just as I'm my imperfect me. I want you, Aaron. Nothing's gonna change that."

He smiled, but at wavered at the corners. "Well, you're very observant." She smiled back, genuinely, and pinched his hand again. "I just don't get..."

She shook her head. "No! Don't! I asked you not to. Please. I can't stand hearing you talking yourself down like that, knowing there is nothing I can do to make you see how truly wonderful you are. I LOVE you, Aaron. If you have any clue of what that means, you should know that I am telling you the truth."

He did have a clue and he knew she was telling her truth. He just couldn't see it that positively. "All I know is that I love you, Marta. With all of whatever part of my humanity I have left."

"That's more than you think. You have so much more good in you than you think." Her eyes were so soft and smoldering, he felt warm just by looking at them. "I know, because I've seen it. You'd risk your life for me. You control your urges around me to protect me. That makes you basically human. And I see the way you look at me. That's not a monster looking at a prey. That's a lover looking at his lover."

He let his head hang. "Sometimes it feels like I am the monster, and you are the prey. The things I could do to hurt you...it's monstrous. And it's all going on inside my head. And let's not talk about how every time I walk into a room, I start checking for things to kill with, easy access points. I see your weaknesses. It scares me that they're so many."

She shook her head and shushed him, leaning into him over the table. "That's how I know you are human. That fear." she whispered, before kissing him.

He took her hand and kissed her back, grateful to whoever gave him Marta. "You're the best, baby. You have to know this." It was the first time he'd ever called her anything other than Marta, and she looked up to him, shock clearly visible in her eyes. Had he gone too far? But she pinched his hand again.

"Thank you. Let's go to our hotel. I'm about done here." She threw down her napkin and rose, smiling down at him. Yes, the hotel. A very good idea. He paid, not leaving a tip, because they just couldn't spare the money and followed her onto the streets, making their way back to the hotel. They'd been so lucky with this hotel offer. He hated what had to happen to get it, but now they were very lucky. A free stay as long as they liked? He could stay here forever if Marta was with him. She opened the door and pulled him inside. He grabbed her around the waist, and kicked the door closed with his foot. She laughed and took initiative, kissing him square on the lips, passionately. He felt his pants tighten around him, and he knew this couldn't last long. But for now, he was okay. He pushed her back against the wall and pressed himself hard against her, which made her gasp. She buried her fingers in his hair and pulled softly, exposing his neck for her to kiss. He growled, he enjoyed this so much. He grabbed her hips and lifted her, and she wrapped his legs around his waist, her lips still latched to his neck. He walked backwards into the bedroom, until the inside of his knees hit the bed and he fell back, laughing as he did. She giggled and finally released his neck. He turned them quickly and started kissing and sucking and licking her neck. Eye for an eye. She groaned, tried to push him off, but failed miserably. He knew exactly what he was doing. For now.

"Aaron," she murmured, "please."  
He smirked, knowing full well what she wanted.

"What is it, baby? What do you want?"

"You're killing me here. I want...I don't know what I want. I want whatever you can give me."

He smiled against her neck and she shivered. "Let's see what I can do, shall we?"

"God, please."

"It's Aaron, love." he joked, and she groaned when he didn't continue.

"Your ego needs its own zip code." she snapped.

His hands wandered down her belly to her shirt. "We may not go far, but this. Comes. Off. Now." he demanded. She smirked and lifted her body so he could yank her shirt off, revealing her body for him. "You're so beautiful." he whispered. And she was. She had the perfect body. She wasn't too fat, but wasn't as thin as those anorexic girls out there. She had average breasts, maybe cup C. Yeah, he knew how weird it was to be able to assess a woman's breasts size. She had curves in all the right places, and her skin was smooth, with a couple of battle scars here and there. He could look at her all day and not grow tired. He undid the bra and tossed it away. He felt a hunger come to the surface when he had her body all for him in front of her, but he suppressed that hunger. Instead, he started to attack her nipple with his mouth. She moaned. One hand slid down to her shorts and the other started playing with the other breast. His hand slid inside her pants and he quickly felt for her bundle of nerves. When he found it, she practically screamed. His fingers started playing with it and then he slid one finger inside of her. Oh yes, this was what she needed. Her reaction was priceless. She arched her back, and her mouth was open in a silent scream of pleasure. He started working her up slowly, he wanted this to last forever for her.

"Oh God, please don't stop!" she panted. She had her eyes closed and was enjoying every single second of it, her hands were dug deeply in his hair and, overcome by lust, he kissed her again.

"I won't." he murmured into her mouth. One hand was still pinching and massaging her breast, so now she was being pleasured in three different places. He placed his thumb on her clit and started rubbing it, causing her to moan.  
Her whole body suddenly went rigid and she screamed. At first he thought she was in pain, but then he felt her walls clench around his finger and he knew she was coming. "That's right, baby. Come for me." he whispered, his voice hoarse with lust. She released as if on cue, moaning his name and her entire body relaxed after that.

"Oh my God. I love you so much. I wish I could do something in return." She opened her eyes to look at him, her eyes glistening with lust. "Unless you think it's possible for me to return the favor?"

He wanted that, so bad, but he couldn't trust himself. "Let's not push our luck. I'm perfectly happy with satisfying you. For now." He wrapped his arms around her and buried his face in her neck.

"I loved it, Aaron. Where did you learn to do that? Wait," she said when he opened his mouth, "let me guess. Instinct?"

She knew him too well. "Exactly." he said, laughing. "Let's just go to sleep. If I sleep, I'll get it out of me." He needed it out of him, his hands were shaking with restraint. Control was such an easy thing to lose, especially around Marta. She snuggled close to him and he held her the entire night. It took him a while to fall asleep, though. While her body quickly relaxed, he was tense for a couple of hours before he finally had the excitement out of his system and fell asleep. Because he had been thinking about that particular subject, he had a very vivid dream. One he didn't want to come true, one he prayed for not to come true. If he ever manhandled Marta like that in real life during such an innocent act...he would never be able to live with himself. He woke up, drenched in sweat, his cravings nowhere near gone. Marta was sitting up, against the head-board, as far away from him as possible. Which made him incredibly worried.

"Are you okay?" she asked him softly, when she saw his eyes open. She scooped closer and took his hand in hers. "You have been screaming, kicking and punching for hours! I couldn't wake you for some reason!"

He had what? Oh no. Oh, no, no, no. "Please, tell me I didn't..." he pleaded.

"You didn't." she whispered. She stroked his sweaty hair back and smiled soothingly. "When you took a swing at my head, though, and I ducked just in time, I decided that it was time to move away." She chuckled, but he absolutely did not see how this was funny. He almost hit her! How could he do that? He swung his legs out of bed and rose, he couldn't stand to be in the same bed with her anymore. He hated this. He never knew whether or not he was going to hurt her. He heard her get up and he moved away, but apparently not fast enough. She had his arm before he could make the living room. "Don't do this to yourself, Aaron. I don't blame you."

"I do." he growled, and pulled himself free. He couldn't be with her like this. They should sleep separately. He could sleep on the couch.

"Kenneth James Kitsom, you stop there right now!" she shouted. Aaron stopped moving the second he heard his original name. "You are not doing this to yourself! You are a good man, who something bad has happened to. I love you for you, not anybody else."

"Marta, I can't even make love to you! How can I be a good partner if I can't even do that?!"

"I don't care about that, Aaron. Being together doesn't mean that we have to have sex. It's not all about the physical, you know."

He sighed. "I know that, but...I just want to be able to give you everything. And I can't."

"I don't want everything. What I've got is all I ever wanted and then some. Please," she begged, "believe me." She turned him and he almost broke when he saw her desperate expression. "Don't make me drop to my knees."

He grabbed her arms before she could do something stupid like that. "I'm sorry, Marta. I keep ruining everything."

She smiled and stroked the side of his face lovingly. "It's okay. Let's just take one step at a time, okay?"

He leaned his forehead against hers, and for a few moments, they just stood, arms around each other, their breathing mixed up evenly and their eyes closed. Every time he was with her, he felt so at peace. He wasn't going to say 'the most peaceful moment' anymore, because that wouldn't narrow it down. Every moment with her was peaceful. Most of them at least. "Are you hungry?" she asked suddenly, pulling away from him and smiling so softly that his heart melted.

"Yes. But I thought I'd..."

"Yes. But I want to take care of you right now. I can't give you what you gave me last night, so this'll have to do." she added, jokingly.

He had to give her that one. He nodded and sat down at the little bar and watched her again as she worked in the kitchen. There was one thing that he knew for sure. No matter how much he loved seeing her work her ass of for something she was passionate about, he would not let her become one of those women who do everything and anything while their men do nothing. That was just not gonna happen, oh no. He loved her, so he'd do half of everything. He'd taken care of himself for years. He would be taking care of her from now on, too. He was surprisingly okay with that. After they'd eaten, they sat together, soft piano music playing in the background, played a game of chess and they talked about all sorts of things. What they liked, what they liked to do (except killing everyone, in Aaron's case. Marta looked scaldingly at him when he said that). Their views on politics and certain things in the world like world malnutrition. Turned out they had a pretty equal view on things, except for one thing.

"I'm telling you, if we retreat our forces from Afghanistan now, we'll lose this war!" Aaron exclaimed. He couldn't deny that he was a little bit biased. He knew what it was like in the army. How badly he wanted to win. If they'd retreat now, all work would be lost.

"We can't afford to loose more American lives, Aaron! War has never helped anyone, just look through the history books!"

Aaron smiled at her passion. "But all those people there are in need of our help."

"I don't deny that. But helping doesn't mean shooting first and then ask questions. We should aid them with words and money. Not weapons." She shoved her Bishop two places diagonally forward and chuckled. "Check." she said.

He laughed, moved his Tower to where her Bishop was standing. He took the latter from the board and grinned. She groaned in response.

"Fine. But I don't hear you making any solid arguments!"she grumbled, while she moved a Pawn one place forward, not doing anything in the game. He immediately saw an effective move. Thank God for chems, right? Or else he wouldn't have been able to do this, at all.

"Those people need protection!" he stated, moving his Knight to protect his Queen.

She nodded, stared at the board for some time and then, triumphantly, shoved her Tower to where his Bishop was standing, effectively taking it. Checking him again. "Protection, yes. But all we do is kill to protect them. We need to talk with the enemy, try to make them see reason."

He had to admit, she was good at this. "Yet, that was an aggressive move."

She blushed. "Whatever. Shouldn't we go right now?" Aaron was impressed with how quick she changed the subject.

Aaron looked at his newly bought watch and nodded. "Yeah, I suppose so." He rose and offered her his hand. "I want to set up a few ground rules. Don't leave my side, alright? Whatever happens, I want you to stay with me. When we meet Bourne, use your eyes. Look around, see if we're being watched."

"Please don't tell me not to talk." she begged, while she changed into a light purple t-shirt.

He chuckled. "No, of course not. Actually, I want you to talk as much as you can. You know most of the info we're supposed to tell him. Bourne can't testify for all those years he spend in Treadstone. I can for Outcome. You and Nicky have loads of inside information. You are very valuable."

She blushed and took her purse. "Well. Okay, than. Let's go."

He smirked and took her hand, pulling her out of their room, down the stairs and out of the hotel. The sun was really high in the sky, and it was searing hot out. Aaron almost immediately began sweating. "Jesus H. Christ!" he exclaimed, wiping his forehead.

Marta chuckled and put her sunglasses on. "Come on, cowboy, let's go."

He accepted her outstretched hand and, as calmly as possible, they walked to the place where they were supposed to be meeting Bourne. He was desperately hoping that nothing went wrong this time. "There it is. We need to say alert, if you see anything out of the ordinary, someone following us, warn me." Marta nodded, and looked around. "No, not...not that conspicuously, babe." He laughed softly, and she blushed.

"Sorry."

"No big deal. You haven't been at this nearly as long as I have. You are never going to get close, even."  
She chuckled at that and then they entered the cafe. "Stay alert." Aaron looked around, filing everyone in his memory. Right, so there was a shotgun behind the bar. Great. Weapons were so not needed right now. Bourne wasn't there yet, but then again, it wasn't one yet.

"Are you Mr and Mrs Monroe?" the bartender asked, when they sat down. Aaron nodded, frowning slightly. "A Mr Kamal asked me to give you this."

Aaron sighed and took the scrap of paper from the bartender. He should've guessed it wouldn't be this easy. "Thanks." He unfolded the note and read it. MANDELA RHODES PLACE, ROOM 926, 0136PM. DRINK SOMETHING FIRST. He was sending them exactly where they came from. "Gotta be kidding me." groaned Aaron and he shoved the note to Marta. She sighed, and smiled at him at the same time. She was acting as if they were having a normal conversation, which Bourne obviously wanted.

"Is it weird that I don't like him?"

His face probably betrayed him. He felt as if he was at boiling point. Bourne was intentionally screwing with them, and he didn't like it. "Not. At. All."

"Tea, for me, please." Marta said to the bartender.

"Scotch. On the rocks." Aaron felt like drinking.

"I'm sorry, sir, but Mr Kamal specifically said not to give you alcohol." The bartender looked like he was gonna cry. Aaron was maybe looking a little bit out of control.

"I am going to kill him." he said to Marta, and she snickered. "Is coffee forbidden?" The bartender shook his head and fled to the coffee machine.

Marta put a hand on his arm and stroked his biceps softly. "As appealing as it sounds, no, you're not. He is an asset. He can help us finish this. And he's just being careful, you'd have done the same."  
Well, she wasn't wrong. "This is how it feels when someone's acting very, very, extremely careful." she informed.

He chuckled. Guess he had that one coming. "Sucks."

"Just figuring that out now?" she said giggling. They both drank their coffee and tea as slow as they could, chitchatting away to delude any stalkers. "Ten minutes." Marta whispered, while leaning in to kiss him. He looked at his watch and nodded. He called for the bill, and the bartender couldn't have brought it to him faster than to anyone. He obviously wanted them gone. Well, Aaron couldn't blame him.

"Let's go, baby. Or we're going to have to hurry." And he didn't want that. It was too hot to hurry. They crossed the streets and walked back to their hotel. Everything they just did felt completely pointless. But of course, if anyone were following them, they'd think they had just gone out for a drink and were now going back to the hotel. Aaron hated to admit it, but Bourne thought this through well. Deep down, in some ways, if he wasn't a reliability, Bourne was kind of a teacher to Aaron. Bourne had been at this for so much longer and had always stayed out of trouble. Well, not always. But he was still alive, so that was kind of impressive seeing as he's had the best of the best assassins after him.

"What are you thinking of?" Marta asked, when she saw his thoughtful expression.

He shook his head, and returned to reality. "Bourne." When she asked him what about Bourne, he answered, "I'm thinking that no matter how much I hate him, I can't help but admire him."

She smiled. "Another sign that you're just human. But I know what you mean. I despise him, really, I do. But I admire him as well. He's done so amazingly well. It baffles me, to be honest." They entered the hotel and rode the elevator up to the ninth floor. "He's in our room, isn't he?" Marta asked, fiddling with her fingers.

"Yes."  
She suddenly slid a hand down his back, and after a moment of enjoying the touch, he focused on where she was really going. The gun in its holster on his waistband. He took her hand and pulled it away.  
"Marta. I don't want you to have anything to do with that."

"Can't make any promises." she hissed. "That's our room, our privacy, he's invading!"

"I know, sweetheart. I know." It's not like Bourne wasn't gonna pay for this. Just not right now. Right now, they needed each other. The killing came after.

Marta takes the key card and slides it through the lock. It clicks open. "Here we go." she whispers. Cross takes her hand and together they walk into the living room, the moment the digital clock on his wrist says 0136pm. Bourne's already there, which was to be expected. He was sitting there, just doing nothing, while Nicky was staring out of the window.

"I'm sorry it had to go like this, but you're blown. You're being followed." informs Bourne matter-of-factly. "I've disabled the bugs here, but you're going to have to leave sooner or later."

Shame. And how were they blown? "Fuck." Bourne chuckled. "Okay, so we're here. What now?"

"Now I want you to explain exactly what you got against the government that can bring the last traces of Treadstone, Blackbriar, Outcome and LARX down." Bourne leaned back in his chair. "I want this over. I want to live a normal life. I'm sick and tired of running."

Aaron and Marta installed themselves on the couch and Aaron smiled. "Jason, I think we understand each other perfectly."

Bourne grins, and the mood lightens a bit. "Alright, then. We have to get out of here as soon as possible. You're blown, and we have to assume we're blown as well. Getting out of here is the most important thing right now."

Nicky turned back, and Aaron didn't like her expression at all. "Where do you suggest we go?!" she said. "Because of those two clowns, our cover is blown!"

"Nicky..." Bourne said, sounding tired. "I'm sorry, she just doesn't trust you yet. She's usually a lot nicer."

"I understand." says Bourne nodding. Nicky this agitated was not good news. He was going to have to keep a close eye on her.

"We leave the way I always have. Plane. We get us some fake ones. I presume you already got ones?" When Cross nodded, Bourne smiled lightly, just one corner tipped up. "Perfect. At least, I hope those decoys still work. They probably will. Nobody knows your aliases, do they?"

Cross shook his head. "No, except for the people at the airport. They didn't have the electronics. They didn't store it."

"Brilliant. I'm sorry, but you're gonna have to leave this beautiful apartment behind." Bourne looked around, and nodded appreciatively. "How did you get this?"

Next to him, Aaron felt Marta shift her weight uncomfortably and he took her hand, signalling her that it was okay, that he would protect her. "That's something we don"t like to discuss."

Bourne nodded. "Fair enough. So, when do we leave?"

Marta pulled out her laptop and started typing quickly. It was silent for a few minutes and it gave Aaron the opportunity to look at Bourne and Nicky. Nicky was sitting on Bourne's lap now, and Bourne was stroking her hand and belly, looking up to her in awe. Cross studied Nicky well, scanning her face and her body, and then he saw. "Nicky? Forgive me, but can I ask you something?" She looked up, more shocked than angry. She nodded. "Are you pregnant?" Her eyes widened, Marta looked up and Bourne tightened his arms around her.

"How do you know that?" she whispered.

"Your belly is slightly swollen, but you try to cover it up with your blouse. And the way Bourne was caressing it just now, told me enough." He smiled softly. "I'm sorry, I couldn't help but notice. Congratulations."

For the first time, Nicky smiled genuinely, and now Aaron noticed that she was beaming. "Thank you, Cross."

Bourne kissed her very softly, and Aaron was amazed at the amount of love he could project onto that woman. If Aaron could ever do that for Marta...he'd praise every single milligrams of luck he had left. He saw Marta staring at the couple as well, biting her lip in an incredibly sexy way. Oh, if only he could love her like she deserved...he loved her so much, and he couldn't show it to her. He took her hand, and she looked at him. What he saw shocked him. Her eyes were filled with tears. He frowned, worried, and she wiped past her eyes quickly. "I'm sorry." she whispered, and went back to focussing on her computer. "Alright, so the earliest flight that leaves to the States is in two days, 6pm. 4 tickets?"

Bourne snapped back into his calculated self. "No. Two for you. I'll do Nicky and mine's. Best if we not sit together." He started to write something down. "Use this credit card number. It has more than enough money. Anything else you need, just write out a cheque with that number." Bourne took the paper from him and stared at it for a while. "Just take it." Bourne said, waving it any protests away. "It's my trust fund, for my parents after I...died. When they figured out I was still alive, they send a private detective after me, and gave me this number. My parents are very rich, to say the least. They don't need it, and they deposit 50 grand on there every month. That's more than I can spend, so just take the money."

"Thank you." Aaron said, passing the number onto Marta. "This is very generous."

Marta nodded and Aaron watched her order to tickets. "Done. Anything else?" She obviously wanted them gone. Aaron couldn't blame her,although the money was a very generous gesture.

Bourne rose and unnecessarily helped Nicky to her feet. "Nope. See you in two days." He and Nicky let themselves out, leaving Marta and Aaron behind in silence. Marta slammed the computer shut.

"You're welcome!" she growled at the closed door, and she stood up, leaving for the kitchen. "I mean, thanks for the money, but jeez!" Aaron should have comforted her, told her she did good. But he didn't. He rose, and went to the window. He would never be able to love Marta like Bourne loved Nicky. He was way too fucked up, dependent on the system. Without the system, though, he would've remained mentally retarded for the rest of his life. Thank God for small favors. "Is something wrong?" she asked him, coming up behind him and wrapping her arms around his waist. "Talk to me, Aaron, you know you can tell me everything, right?" She put her head on his shoulder and sighed.

"I know." he said, staring out over the boulevard. "I just don't wanna leave here. I don't wanna go home, at all." She chuckled. "I wanna stay here in this luxurious apartment, just enjoying the sun and the good food. And you."

"I know what you mean. I want to, too." She smiled at him through the reflecting glass. "But we can't. We have to stop this."

He took her hands, and stroked them. "I know. And we will."

She pulled out of his grasp and wound her arms around his neck. "Maybe, after, we can come back." She smiled at the thought. "We have two days left. Why don't we make the most of it?"

He smiled, and had the perfect idea right away. "It's too hot today, let's go to Clifton beach."

Marta's entire face lit up. "I love you! I love the beach, and the sea and the wind! I can't love you enough for suggesting that, thank you!" She jumped him, wrapped her legs around his waist and hugged him tightly. He grinned in her shoulder and held her at her thighs. He was sure she could hold herself up with her legs, but he didn't want to take the risk. "It's just...I don't have a bikini."

Aaron smiled and picked up the credit card number, and waved at her with it. "Then let's buy you one. I need trunks, too."

Marta dropped herself and went for the door, swaying her hips way too sexually. "Let's go, then. Before the day is over." He ran after her, and together, they walked to the nearest swim shop, where they bought a bikini and a new pair of trunks. She looked stunning, with her multicolored two-piece under her translucent white shirt and short jeans. After he kissed her deeply, and with lots of underlying lust, they took the bus to the beach.

"Lucky they accepted that cheque." Marta said. She was leaning against his shoulder and staring out the window.

"Yeah. I think 'Mr Kamal' is well-known here. When we mentioned his name, everyone went nuts." Marta chuckled and closed her eyes. "You okay?"

"Yeah. It's just...I've missed the vitamin D." Aaron burst into loud laughter, causing several other passengers to look in their direction. "What? It's true. Weather had been really suckish before everything went nuts, and then we were constantly running."

"True." he said, still chuckling softly. "Well, today is all about enjoying those vitamins. Thoroughly." She nodded, and continued staring out of the window.

The beach was beautiful. Surprisingly, there were not an overload of people. It was crowded, but not too crowded. It was easy to find a place to settle. Which was weird 'cause fourth beach was supposed to be the most popular beach of all four.  
To be safe, Aaron buried his wallet, the number and his gun in the sand under his blanket and put his shoes on top of it.

"Worried, much?" commented Marta dryly, who was in the process of stripping her clothes. He smirked at her and she blushed.

"I don't think many people here would appreciate it if there was a gun lying on a blanket, to be honest, Marta." he said, pulling his shirt over his head. She gasped and he felt her stare. "See something you like, miss Shearing?" he asked.

"Yes, I think so." she said, blushing heavily. "Hurry up, agent Cross. The sea's waiting on us." She jumped up, and started running for the blue water. He was quicker than she was, but she had quite a head start. He caught up to her at the shore line, just where the water hit the land. He grabbed her around her waist and lifted her off of her feet, carrying her deeper into the cool water. 78 degrees in America isn't too much of a peak, but here in South Africa it felt really hot. Aaron didn't bother to find out why exactly.  
The water, though, was 61 degrees. After being in 78 for so long, it felt really cold.  
When he was sure he was deep enough, he suddenly released Marta into the water. She screamed momentarily, before submerging completely, and coming back up coughing and shouting. Aaron just laughed. He was so busy laughing that he was too late to notice that she jumped him. He only noticed when he got pushed under water by her. He resisted the urge to gasp for air, grabbed her arms and pulled her down with him. He didn't keep her down long, and she wrapped her arms around his neck when she resurfaced, and kissed him deeply.

"Thank you for this." she whispered, stroking his face and back. He pressed her close to him.

"Thank you." he emphasized. "You are the main reason I'm still alive. I'm alive and happier than ever, so thank you."

Marta smiled and she looked so beautiful, with her hair wet and tangled and her face lit up by the smile. "Come on, let's swim." She dived out of his arms and into the water, and began swimming deeper into the sea. Aaron followed suit. If couldn't care less about his surroundings, or how many others there were. He just followed Marta into the ocean, his eyes trained on her. He suddenly had an urge and played on it. He grabbed her ankle and pulled her backwards to him, making her laugh with surprise. "Come here, miss Shearing." he whispered hoarsely.

"I'm here, Mr Cross." she said back, wrapping her legs around his waist, and pressing herself hard against him. He moaned and something stirred inside him. "Sorry." she whispered honestly. He buried his hands in her hair and kissed her hard. He didn't care anymore, all he wanted to do was kiss her senseless. Her hands ran wildly along his back, her nails scratching his skin. It didn't hurt. He pulled her hair to tilt her head back, and began kissing her neck.

"Aaron..." she moaned and gasped at the same time(was that even possible?). It only egged him on more. He kicked hard to keep himself and Marta above the water, and he calculated that he would run out of energy in approximately 3 hours and 45 minutes. He could handle this for a while. "Please, please, don't stop." she begged.

Secretly, he liked it when she begged for something like this. Like when he'd satisfied her last night. The begging had turned him on. He knew it should be wrong. Disrespectful. But it felt so right. "I won't. I promise." he whispered. He wished he could go lower than her chest, but he knew that kissing under water was not a good idea, unless he wanted to drown. So instead, he just stayed at her breasts, teasing her through her biking top. Her hands were in his hair, pulling and massaging and stroking.

"Aaron? Please, don't kill me for saying this, but...I think you are ready." She pulled his head back. "I think you're underestimating yourself."

Aaron knew exactly what she was talking about, and he wasn't happy about it. He released her into the water gently, while his heart was pounding rapidly, his stomach turning. "Marta, don't even try it. I cannot control myself."

"Have you even tried?" she asked, her voice raising by half an octave. "Have you ever considered that you might actually enjoy it? That you maybe can control yourself?" She reached out to him, but he backed away. His inner fire was raging. She was pushing him to the very limit now. "I've seen you in action, Aaron. You can be cold, calculated and ruthless. One thing you have never, ever been, is out of control. It may feel that way to you sometimes, but you have honestly never lost control."

Aaron began to swim away. He couldn't listen to this. He couldn't let her convince him. "No, Marta." he growled.

Stubborn as she was, she followed him. "Aaron, I'm trained to look at people and see how they are doing. What they're thinking, feeling, and what they are able and unable to do. Trust me when I say that you are ready."

His feet touched the ground again and he turned around facing her. He wasn't angry at her, he couldn't even blame her for wanting this. "I don't want to hurt you. I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I hurt you."

She waded closer to him and took his hands. "I don't think you can, even if you wanted to. Remember that day on the fisherman's boat? You tackled me, but you didn't hurt me once. You can be so extremely careful. Aaron? Look at me and trust me for once. You're ready."

He groaned and pulled her hard against his chest, kissing her breathlessly. "Tonight, after dinner. We'll try. TRY, mind you. If it doesn't work, I stop."

A huge grin broke on her face and she kissed him back. "Fair enough."

"Until then: no more sex-talk, okay? Let's have an innocent form of fun." She grinned, nodded and suddenly disappeared under water. The waves prevented him from seeing her clearly.

"Come on, snail!" She resurfaced a few feet away from him, and he smirked before diving after her, catching up with her as fast as humanly possible. How he loved this woman. She challenged him in ways he had never seen before, making him see and discover new things. He'd seen an awful lot of the world, but she showed him things that could be so much closer to home. A love, a life, something worth living for. He never thought he could love someone like this. It ran deep into his soul, it hurt when she was hurt. She was in some inexplicable way connected to him, and he loved it.

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**For everyone who has read this one before 19.16 o'clock (UTC/GMC +1 hour), you may have noticed a part of chapter six. That was NOT meant to be here. I took it off. You all had an exclusive look into my next chapter;).**


	6. Coming and Going

**Just a warning to you guys, this chapter is rated M, and for a reason! Do not like, do not read. The actually M-part begins at the fat capital 'i' and ends at another. After that it's just some sexual talk. Hope you enjoy!**

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Chapter 6 (MPOV)  
Coming and Going

The day had gone by so fast that it was almost too bad it neared its ending. Of course, what was waiting for them when they got back to the hotel, made it all worthwhile. As they walked back from the beach, their towels under their arms and her arm wound around his, she felt him tense up more and more as the neared the hotel. He was nervous as if this was his first time. She had to admit, a knot began to form in her stomach as well.

"Aaron? I love you. I loved today, it was great."

Aaron smiled and pressed a soft kiss to her temple. "I've had a great time, too. I love you." It was amazing, hearing those three words from him. She only questioned if they were truthful. She loved him so much, but he was so fucked up and that left her wondering if he could ever love her like she loved him. Sure, she'd seen the devotion in his eyes, and the way he tried to protect her told her that he at least cared a lot.  
But was it love? Was he as hopelessly in love as she was?  
She couldn't figure it out. Sometimes she thought she almost figured him out, and then he slipped away again.

"Marta, you're staring." he said, smiling.

"Sorry." she murmured, looking away with burning cheeks. He chuckled and wound his arm around her.

"You have no idea how good that felt, someone staring at me without fear."

Marta, shocked by this revelation, pressed herself close to him. "I'm not afraid of you, Aaron."

"Clearly. Or you wouldn't be so sure that I can do this." Marta smiled and pinched his hand. She was very sure. Every word she'd said was true. He was never out of control. And so what if he was? Everyone loses control, especially during sex.

**I **The hotel came into view, and she felt Aaron tense up slightly. He was nervous, just like her, which only made her more sure of herself. "Come on, Aaron." she said when he stopped. She took a few steps, but he didn't follow. She turned and beckoned him, looking at him through her eyelashes, knowingly seducing him. He groaned softly and followed her, taking her outstretched hand. She led him into the elevator, and for a moment it looked like she had to be in control, but the moment the elevator doors closed, he grabbed her arms and pressed her up against the wall, kissing her furiously. She moaned in his mouth, which only seemed to egg him on. The elevator dinged and they broke apart for a moment to walk to their room. Marta slid the key card through the reader, put it in her back pocket, turned and practically attacked him. She felt euphoric. He'd agreed to try this, which was more than she'd ever hoped for, and he was as equally excited and nervous. He wound his arms around her and pressed her up against the wall again. It felt great to do this, to finally loose herself completely in him. He started to remove her short-sleeved blouse button for button, slowly, intimately, torturing. All she wanted was for him to tear her clothes off, but he did it at his pace. She loved how he took care, how he really wanted to do this properly. Love her properly. Her stomach did a double flip.

"Come with me." he whispered, leading her to the bedroom slowly. She followed eagerly. His eyes were smoldering while he laid her down on the bed, never looking away. Her heart started to race and she could almost hear those cheesy tracks they always put under these scenes in films. Finally, it fit somewhere. "I love you, Marta." he murmured, while he attacked her neck with his mouth. She closed her eyes and let everything just happen. She was with Aaron, and he was doing all of this for and to her. It was her summit of happiness.

"Marta," he groaned when she bucked her hips into his and felt the bulge in his pants. A shiver went through her body, along with a proud feeling. She did that to him. She made him aroused. His hand slid over her body and she gasped. "Marta, I need you."

"Then take me. I'm yours, Aaron." She placed her mouth near his ear and whispered, "Always."

He groaned and rolled over so that she was sitting on top of him. She placed her hands on his chest to steady herself and looked down upon him. "You are making this extremely difficult for me, Marta."

"Then don't hold back." she told him. She really wanted him to get a move on. She was aching for him.

He grinned and undid the rest of the buttons of her shirt, and she shrugged it off. Then she tugged his shirt over his head, because then it would be fair. His muscles kept amazing her. Even though she'd just seen him in his swimming trunks - without the shirt - her breath still caught in her throat. Her hands ran over his chest, and she closed her eyes to feel it better. He chuckled, and ran his hands up her legs, to her hips and he grabbed her hips tightly, digging his fingers into her flesh. It didn't hurt, it was more of a...turn-on. He sat up and pulled her in for a kiss. Their tongues battled for dominance. Vanilla filled her nose, and she curiously went looking for the source, and found it pretty easily. His hair smelled like sweet vanilla, she buried her nose in his hair and inhaled deeply. That was so nice. His hands went down to her shorts and started to unbutton them. She lifted her hips to allow him to let it slide down her legs.  
She repositioned her legs, to be able to undo his pants, too. Or so she tried. The shorts weren't completely off yet, and because she couldn't move her feet, she lost her balance and fell backwards, her head bumping the wood. Aaron gasped, pulling off the shorts and hovering over her, looking absolutely horrified.

"Marta! Are you okay?"

Being over her initial shock, she started laughing and giggling. It didn't even hurt. Much. "I'm fine." she giggled. "Maybe, next time, you should remove my shorts all the way." He blushed, which made her laugh even more.

"Sorry." he said, chuckling softly.

"It's fine." she said, grinning at him. She put a hand in his neck and pulled him in for a kiss. He laughed against her lips, and felt him relax a bit. Humor during foreplay. Nice. His hands slid behind her back and unclasped her bra without so much as a blink. She was actually impressed. "Is there anything you can't do?"

"I think I suck at piano. Though I've never tried it." Marta chuckled, and gasped when he suddenly latched his lips onto one nipple. She threw her head in her neck and closed her eyes, her mouth slightly open and panting heavily. She deeply enjoyed the attention he gave her, and she could tell he was deeply enjoying her responses. When he was done with one, he quickly switched to the other nipple, suckling and licking it until it almost hurt. Almost.  
After he was done there, he continued to kiss down her belly, and gave her belly-button some extra attention. Her whole body was burning with these new sensations. No man had ever taken this much time and care to lavish her with attention. And she loved it.  
When he reached her panties, he hesitated for only a moment, before hooking his fingers behind it and pulling them down slowly. She wanted to yell at him to get on with it, but held back. She knew how hard he found this. She was going to take this at his speed.

"Aaron." she whispered, and then he pressed his tongue up against her clit and she shrieked with pleasure. "Oh Aaron!"

"Yes, my love?" he asked, his voice silly, his warm breath stroking the sensitive spot he was currently giving his attention to.

"I love you." she whispered, raking her hand through his hair.

He smirked and continued his refined torture, bringing her higher, before stopping to get her down again. She wanted him to stop, she wanted to give him everything, everything he never thought he could have. She wanted to pleasure him and then for him to take her. So when he started it all over again, she took his face in her hands and nudged him to come up. He did so, frowning slightly.

"Did I do something wrong?" he asked.

Marta chuckled. It was adorable how he immediately assumed everything was because of a mistake on his part. "Not at all, Aaron, it's wonderful." His frown deepened. "But I want you to try new things with me. Let me bring you pleasure." She turned him on his back and started kissing his neck while undoing his pants. He groaned and leaned back in the pillows, closing his eyes. Marta knew exactly what she wanted him to experience. She kissed down his chest to his hips, to his erection that was growing against her. Funny little tingling sensations surged through her body, and to say that she was enjoying this immensely would be an understatement.  
She felt him tense up and relax under her repeatedly, and she grinned. She was making him do this. She slowed down when she came at his crotch, and he groaned. 'Patience, my love.' she mimicked his silky voice. He chuckled dangerously, but let her do her thing. She let her fingers stroke his length once and he gasped, his eyes flew open and he looked at her with surprise, love and lust in them. She took his length in her hands and started pumping softly up and down. He groaned hungrily.

"Marta...I won't be able to hold it together for long if you continue like that."

"You don't have to. Just let go. Let go for once. Give up control."

Marta stroked him, he grabbed the sheets, groaning softly, and she kept on stroking him until he came shouting her name. He pulled her up and kissed her passionately. "Thank you." he whispered. "I can honestly say I have never felt something like that."

"See? You can handle it." She laid her head on his chest and sighed.

He wrapped his arms around her and kissed the top of her head. "Marta, I love you. I honestly do." Her head was spinning so fast that she thought she was going to faint. It sounded dramatic, even in her head, but it did feel like it. 'Thank you, thank you.' he whispered.

"Whoa, big boy." she said, raising her head and smirking provocatively at him. "We're far from done yet."

He smirked and locked his eyes with hers. "Oh, sweetheart, you have no idea." Her heart leapt at that, and suddenly, he grabbed her and pinned her to the bed with his body. She giggled and he laughed and they kissed, and Marta finally felt that he was really relaxed. He'd finally accepted this to be real, to be good, or whatever. They could finally, truly be one.  
He kissed down her to neck, covered every inch of skin and went back up, kissing her lips before spreading her legs with his and positioning himself in front of her entrance. Then he looked her in the eye, asking for permission. She smiled mollified and nodded, caressing his face softly. He took a deep breath and then slid home in one move.  
Both of them gasped at the sensation. Marta could only describe this feeling as completion. She was complete now. He was her other half, her soul mate. She just knew that they belonged together. She closed her eyes and leaned her head against his. He was breathing erratically, too, and groaning softly. "Aaron..." she whispered, she wanted to tell him what she felt right now, but he shook his head and kissed her lips softly. It was enough to shut her up.

"It's okay. I know."

She highly doubted that, but then he started moving and she was too busy to explain herself. He was moving slow, too slow for her taste, so she raked her nails over his back. He gasped into her mouth and sped up, thrusting in, pulling out and thrusting again faster at a steady, suddenly confident pace.  
It felt just absolutely wonderful.  
"I - I love you." she muttered. "You feel so perfect. This is so p-perfect."

"Marta...oh, Marta, you feel amazing. I could do this all day."

Marta smirked, her eyes closed in sure ecstasy. "T-told you s-sooo! Oh! Ah! Oh God!" she screamed, her hands grabbing the headboard and her legs wrapped around him.  
Sweat began to form on both their bodies, but Marta could care less. Aaron looked hot covered in sweat, and smelled even better. Aaron stroked her hair and kissed her, while he still furiously made love to her. If possible, she pressed herself closer to him and she felt her stomach knot with the anticipation of release. She was so incredibly close, but she couldn't tell him and she wanted this to last forever. And it came too soon, too quick, but it felt so good and heavenly, and she shouted his name in ecstasy, which drove him over the edge as well. He collapsed on top of her, and caught himself just in time to not crush her. He was panting heavily, his eyes closed and he swallowed a few times.**I**

Marta grew restless when he didn't speak and didn't open his eyes. She was scared for him. "Aaron? Aaron, darling, I have to move my legs."  
Aaron nodded once and rolled off of her, him leaving her with an strange, empty feeling. Why was he acting this way? Minutes ago he'd said it felt wonderful.  
"Aaron, are you okay?" she murmured.

He turned to her suddenly, his eyes locking with hers. "Honestly? I'm not. I'm not okay." Her stomach knotted and she had to force back tears. She should've known this would happen. "I have made a terrible mistake, Marta." And his words only made it worse. "I should've done this a lot sooner." There was laughter in his voice, and her head snapped up, to see him laughing at her hard.

She was stunned for a moment, but then she hit him everywhere she could. "You...arrogant...cocky...bastard!" He laughed even harder. "You really scared me."

He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close. "I'm sorry, I just had to...recollect myself. I loved it, Marta, I really did."' He sighed. "I never thought this was possible."

She stroked his chest and smiled to soothe him. "I knew. I knew you cared for me enough to not hurt me." She was careful not to use the word 'love'. "Do you believe me now?"

He chuckled and nodded. "Yeah. I'm sorry I didn't before."

Marta didn't want to hear it. This moment was perfect. And nobody could ever take it away from them. She closed her eyes and suddenly felt very tired. "Thank you, Aaron. It was amazing." she murmured, her voice barely audible.

He stroked her hair and kissed her head. "No. Thank you. I don't know where I would be without you." he whispered. "Go to sleep, Marta. Tomorrow will be our last day here. We'll make the most of it."  
She nodded and then drifted off into a peaceful slumber. Her nightmares stayed away.

She woke up with a wonderful feeling in the pit of her stomach. It took her a split second to remember, but then she smiled. Oh, Aaron, she thought, I love you so much. She turned to his spot, finding it empty. She frowned and sat up, looking around confused. Where was he? She rose, took a shirt from his bag and slipped into fresh panties, before going to find him. She opened the adjoining bathroom door, but it was dark and empty. Now she was really beginning to get worried. 'Aaron?' No sign of anything. No struggle, not even his clothes were gone. She silently opened the door to the living room and peaked inside.

"Good morning." Aaron appeared right in front on her, and she yelped in shock, her heart jumping against her chest.

"Jesus! Aaron!" she said, accusingly, holding her hand to her chest. "You startled me."

He reached for her, circled his arm around her waist and pulled her close. "Sorry." he whispered, before kissing her. "You look sexy." he then said, giving her a approving look.

Marta blushed and pulled the shirt further down. "Sneaking away while we're constantly on guard is not a good idea." she whispered, but she wasn't angry. How could she, with his arm around her like that?

He finally seemed to realize what he did, and he frowned. "I'm sorry, I should've realized. I'm just happy, Marta."

Marta grinned and circled her arms around his neck. Now there was something she liked to hear. "Are you now?"

His eyes were focused on her lips. "Yeah, I am." he whispered, and then he kissed her again. So much love had she never felt before, for anyone. "Come." He took her hand and led her to the kitchen. Suddenly, she smelled coffee and warm buns.

"You didn't...!"

"Yeah, I did. You deserve it." He pulled her to a chair and took a seat next to her. "Dig in." She laughed at the amount of work he went through to get her this.

"I can't believe you did this for me."

"Well, there's a lot you did for me." He kissed her neck softly. "I wanted to do this for you."

She smiled and literally dug in. It was delicious. Buns, strawberries, cream, melted chocolate, tea, coffee...he had it all. "You always manage to surprise me."

He smiled, and Marta felt like dragging him back to the bedroom. She didn't, though. He went through a boatload of trouble to do this for her. And she enjoyed it. It was all delicious. "Marta?" She looked at him, and he held up a chocolate-covered strawberry for her. She grinned at him and he smiled lovingly. "Open up." She opened her mouth and he let the strawberry slowly go into her mouth. The chocolate touched her tongue and she involuntarily moaned. It had been too long that she tasted chocolate. She bit down on the juicy fruit and she swallowed it whole, the sensation bringing shivers throughout her body. He chuckled and pressed his lips to hers.

"Delicious." she murmured.

"Can't say I disagree." he said, licking his lips. They both laughed and he put his hands on her hips. "You're the most beautiful creature I've ever seen, Marta." he whispered.

Marta felt the searing heat go to her cheeks and she turned her head away from him. She hated it when people gave her that big of a compliment. She felt obligated to him now somehow. "Don't..."

"The things you've shown me...the things you make me feel...don't be modest right now, and accept what I am telling you." He turned her chair towards him and forced her to look at him. "You have turned my life around. And I can't thank you enough for that."

"Alright!" she said, and she kissed him slowly. "Can we continue eating, please? I'm still hungry from the workout last night." She winked sexily at him, before turning back to her original position. He grinned, pulling her close to his chest.

"You're a seductive creature, aren't you?" he growled lowly in her ear, causing her to shiver. "Have you got any idea what you do to me?" He put his hands on her hips and pressed her lower body hard against him. Marta closed her eyes and gasped when she felt his erection pressing against her lower back. He trailed his hands over her hips down to her legs and up again, causing her to moan. "But you see, I can't let you be the only one who is not affected in this situation." he whispered. His hands snuck under her - or his - t-shirt and cupped her breasts. She was wearing close to nothing. It would take no effort at all to rid her of it, she was sure of that. But as she thought that, she felt that she didn't care. She wanted him to rid her of her shirt and panties. She arched her back to bring herself closer to his hands, if possible. He chuckled lowly in her ear. "Ah, so I am not the only one." She shook her head, and suddenly, his hands were gone and he pushed her back on her own chair gently. She looked sideways, shocked at his sudden abandonment. He smirked maliciously and took a bit of his bun. She groaned. Why had she fallen for this? How could he have so easily seduced her?

"You started it, with the chocolate-covered strawberry." she accused him. He only grinned, took another strawberry and put it in his mouth, half of it still sticking out.

"Want some?" he asked around the strawberry. She smiled sweetly, lunged at him and kissed him while biting the strawberry, taking the other half in her mouth.

"Mmm." she said, licking her lips. He grinned amused as he chewed on the other half. "We really have got to stop this." This was going a bit insane. They were insinuating all over the place. "It won't be long until I drag you back to the bedroom."

He leaned in close and kissed her neck, almost dissolving her resolve. Almost. "You saying that's a bad thing?"

"I'm saying, I want to make something of this day. Our last day here?" she reminded him.

He smiled and traced one finger past her cheek. "Right. Of course. Then after?"

She leaned in closer and smiled. "Definitely after."

He grinned and then they simultaneously sat up and went back to eating. Marta felt like taking on the world, as long as Aaron was at her side. She finished her breakfast as soon as possible, so that she could be in his arms again. She loved him so much, she thought it wonderful to be in his arms. If only he could love her like she loved him. But that was a sacrifice she was willing to make. She wanted to be with him, and even if he couldn't love her like she loved him, she would deal with that and still be with him. He had chosen to be with her. His kisses could drive her insane, so he at least cared enough about her. And that was just fine. She could love for both of them.

After breakfast, they dressed and went outside with a whole lot of sun block. They went to museums, memorials for ones passed in the wars, they had lunch at a cute little restaurant at the beach, they swam the entire afternoon and had dinner at the Roundhouse in Camps Bay. They got a table in the scenic room, where they overlooked the bay and the Atlantic. Marta had never seen such a beautiful sight, and with Aaron right across from her, it was all the more beautiful.

Time flies when you're having fun, alas.

Before they both knew it, darkness fell over Cape Town. They roamed through the streets, eager to get to the bedroom, but not so eager to get through the night. Tomorrow they would have to go. And that was the last thing they wanted to do. In just three days, they had felt just at home in this place. The best three days of their lives had they spent here. Marta buried her hands deep inside her pockets and inhaled the nice evening scent of Cape Town for the last time. Honey, salty ocean and a hint of campfire smoke, the perfect combination for her.

"Don't wanna go, huh?"

She jumped at his voice, she had been deep in thought, not realizing that she had stopped. She smiled at him. "Not really, no. I like it here."

Aaron extended his hand to her. "Come on. Let's go to our room." When she took his hand, he pulled her close and whispered in her ear, "I need you." Marta shivered, pleasure spiking through her body.

"Then what are we waiting for?" she asked with her sexiest voice. He grinned and pulled her the last few meters to the hotel. In the elevator, she pushed him against the mirror-wall and kissed him with all she had.

But, the thing was, he was a control-freak. And he wasn't very good at letting her have that control. So right before the doors opened, he turned the tables on her and pressed her against the doors. Not a smart move, of course, 'cause the doors opened soon after, and they both tumbled out, right in front of the feet of two very sour-looking old folks. Marta chuckled, feeling extremely embarrassed. What would they think of her? But Aaron already had taken her hand and that washed away all her insecurities. She remembered that she didn't care what anyone thought of her. They hurried through the hall to their room, fumbled with the key in their hurry and wasted no time on getting settled. They threw the door shut and immediately threw themselves in each other's arms, kissing as if their lives depended on it. Marta wanted control, and right now, so she reluctantly broke herself free and walked backwards to the bedroom, beckoning a baffled Aaron, who followed as if in trance. At least they spent their last night here in bliss. Aaron kicked the door shut.


	7. AN

**I know I should update on The Bourne Cross, The Barton Cross and Snow White and the Huntsman II. I know, I know, and I'm really sorry, but the Once Upon a Time ship just can't leave my head! It's frustrating really. I hate letting you awesome guys down, but if that one isn't out of my head first, I can never continue with the other stories. I'm doing the best I can, though! Please, be patient with me.**

**Love, Lily**


	8. Depature and Hotels

**I am so, so, so, so, so, so, so sorry that it took 76 days to finish this. I just had no inspiration. I hope you can forgive me and enjoy this little chapter.**

**! BE WARNED !**

**Smut coming up, kind of graphic(consentual, of course). If you don't want to read that, skip the part marked with the bold capital 'i'. Don't say I didn't warn ya!**

* * *

**Chapter 7**

**Departure and Hotels**

The next day, Aaron and Marta were standing in the central hall of the airport at 01.40pm, waiting impatiently for any news of Bourne and Nicky. Aaron was pacing up and down, his thoughts flying from one subject to the other.  
_Way out...What to do when in the States...Marta...thirty minutes till take-off...are we being followed?...Marta...what really happened to Bourne?...Marta...  
_He was thinking way too much about Marta, and he secretly liked it. She was standing by their bags, staring through a window. She looked so beautiful when she was far away in thought like that. The calm was what made it extra beautiful.  
Aaron didn't think he could deny her anything. She was his one weak-spot, the one he would walk through Hell itself for. The thought of losing her to this LARX-agent was too much, because it would be his fault. Losing her because of the mistakes he'd made was unacceptable. He brought one hand to his mouth and started biting on his thumbnail, a habit he hadn't had in years. Suddenly, he heard her laugh, and he looked up, questioningly.

"I never took you for a nail biter."

Aaron smiled, but it couldn't really reach his eyes. "I'm not, usually. It's something that developed in the past couple of months." Since he worried about her safety, to be exact. It had been something entirely new for him to experience, that he worried. Aaron Cross didn't worry. But since Marta came into his life, he did so constantly. It wasn't something he would easily admit.

She put a hand on his arm, and the warmth soothed him a bit. "They're going to be here. They want out as much as we do. And they've got a lot to lose. More than we have."

Aaron knew she meant the baby. And he understood, somehow. He would be desperate to get out of this, too, if Marta was expecting. He gasped inwardly when he noticed how excited that prospect made him. Him, a father? He would never had thought about it, if Marta hadn't come along. But now...he didn't know what he wanted with his life, with Marta.

"Can I hold you?" he asked, pulling her close.

She giggled very un-Marta-like and looped her arms around his neck. "Do I even have a choice?"

He laughed and pressed her close to his body. "You always have a choice, Marta." Her warmth was comforting. He pressed is lips to her ear and started whispering sweet nothings to her. She put her head on his chest and closed her eyes.

"Aaron, how happy are you now, in relation to...well, two months ago?" She stroked his chest softly and looked up.

He looked down on her and pondered over that for a while. "I am happier right now than I have ever been, Marta. I really am."

"Very emotional all of this, but we need to move quickly. It can only take so long before they figure it out." Aaron turned lightening fast. Bourne and Nicky were standing behind them, both dressed in trench coats. It was seriously 78 degrees out, and this wasn't the easiest way NOT to get noticed. Aaron raised his brows questioningly, but they already strode past him. Marta grabbed her backpack with one hand and Aaron's hand with the other.

"Do not let go." she ordered. He nodded smiling. He swung his backpack over his shoulder and followed her, looking around for any sign of trouble. Bourne and Nicky went through customs first, as Mr and Mrs. Kamal, and at another desk than Aaron and Marta, as Mr and Mrs. Monroe. Bourne had it perfectly arranged, he had the two seats right behind them. He said that they shouldn't communicate as if they knew each other. As if Aaron couldn't think of that himself. He and Marta settled in nice and comfortable, and Marta put her head on his shoulder when they took off. She was considerably calmer than last time.

Aaron sat stroking her hair throughout the safety guidelines and usual captain's speech. After so many flights, he knew them by heart. And they were nonsense. Rules to make you feel better. "Marta," he whispered. She looked up at him, her face calm and peaceful. So beautiful. He smiled, suddenly dumbfounded, not sure what he was going to say. "Nothing. I just wanted to see your face." He stroked her face tenderly and pressed a kiss on her forehead.

"Well, you can look at it as much as you like, Mr Cross." she said playfully.

He put a finger to her lips, and shook his head. "No, my darling, that's not my name. Remember?" He smirked, indicating that it was nothing more than a little teasing. Marta smirked, undid her seatbelt the moment the seatbelt lights went off and crawled on top of his lap. Aaron liked the confidence in her right now. She leaned down and kissed him tenderly. "You know, we are on a plane. With people." he said dryly, and she smirked.

"I know. I don't care. Everybody can see that I belong with you. Hell, I want the whole world to see that you, Aaron Cross, belong with me."

Aaron smirked. He had to admit, he rather liked this possessive side of her. "Yet, it's still not my name." he whispered, running his hands down her sides and to her legs.

She rolled her eyes playfully and kissed him again. He would never get enough of that, he was sure. "Fine, Mr Monroe." she said, emphasizing the last word. "But then my name isn't Marta either." They were speaking so softly that nobody could hear them.

"Fine, Mrs. Monroe." he said, emphasizing the 'Mrs.'. She shivered.

"I'm sorry, Ma'am?" A flight attendant came by, her face red. "Can I offer you a drink?" She barely looked up.

"Yes. Tea would be nice." Marta looked down at Aaron. "You want anything, dear?" She was overdoing it, and she knew it, too. But he didn't care.

"Yes, a coffee, please, thank you." Aaron said. The attendant smiled, her eyes lingering on his face too long to be polite.

Marta saw it, too. She waited until the woman was out of earshot and then growled. Aaron laughed. "Did you see the way she looked at you? What is she, blonde and blind?"

Aaron stroked her face. "I'm yours, Marta." He buried his face in her neck and she closed her eyes, enjoying his warm breath on her cool skin. Over her shoulder, he saw the attendant returning and he pulled away. "Be nice." he warned her. She rolled her eyes and nodded, but didn't move away from his lap.

"Here you go. A tea," she said, handing Marta her tea, "and a coffee for you, sir. If you need anything else, just call me." She smiled broadly, and Aaron felt Marta tense up. He grabbed her wrist and pinned it to the armrest.

"Thank you." Other than that, he didn't give her another glance. She strutted away, her feelings obviously hurt. "See? I'm yours. I will never choose someone like her over you." he whispered, kissing her jaw. It had only been a couple of hours since they last...were together, but he wanted her again. And it didn't help that she was on his lap, causing friction in the most sensitive part of him.

"I know. But seeing that - that knocked up, blonde doll flirting with you...it brought out the green monster. You're mine, I won't ever let you go."

Hearing her say that brought real butterflies to his stomach. "Good enough for me, darling." He leaned in and bit her earlobe softly, causing her to gasp. "But you really have to get off me now. You're tempting me in ways I don't want to be at this moment. We're in a very public place." he whispered in her ear. She sighed and crawled back into her own seat. Aaron held his arm out for her. She slid under it and nestled against his chest. "When we get to a hotel room, I'm going to ravish you." he whispered hoarsely, and Marta shivered against him.

"Keep this up, and I won't be able to hold back." she murmured. He laughed and took a sip of his coffee, while he stroked her hair absentmindedly.

"You two are annoying." Nicky whispered sharply. Aaron looked up and saw her leaning over the seat, smiling broadly. "How did you two find each other? It took me and Jason ages to get together."

Marta looked up, smiling. "I don't know. We just...did." She stroked his stubble lovingly. Aaron caught her hand and massaged her palm.

Nicky smiled admiringly. "I think it's cute."

"Thanks." Marta said.

"Once we get this over with, we can build ourselves a new life. All of us." Nicky stared into the distance.

"Nicky, be careful!" hissed Bourne, glancing around with a iron look on his face.

"Oh, relax, will you?" whispered Nicky. "We're gonna be fine." Aaron smiled at Marta, and she grinned back. It was funny to hear the two of them bickering like an old married couple. Bourne just threw them a hard look. Aaron could understand his point of view, and to be frank, he had all his guards up, too. Every passenger in sight had already been reduced to harmless vacationers by his mind, and the crew also had nothing to hide. Except maybe the nervous guy in the back, who had a few leaves of weed in his back pocket. As long as he didn't give himself away, and the police wasn't called the moment they touched down, everything should be fine.

But his senses were still on high alert.

Everything was recorded, processed and stored. He was like a computer, he saved everything.

But it had one big flaw. One thing could distract him. One thing could make him forget everything. And that one thing was now absentmindedly stroking his chest. He had to fight to focus.

He knew he loved Marta more than anything. He knew he couldn't live without her. But he had never felt something like this before, and he did a bang-up job telling her that. He didn't know how. He didn't have one god damn clue. All he could do was hold her, kiss her, pleasure her and hope that was enough for now. He looked at her, and the depth in her brown eyes was endless. He felt like he could see right into her soul. It was right there, all out in the open for him. He had never seen such trust in anyone's eyes. It made him fall even deeper for her, if that was even possible.

Only two hours later, Aaron realized he had fallen asleep. They were already closing in on the ground at Johannesburg, their first and only stop. There they had a connection at 05.50pm straight to Washington. It was only a 1 hour and forty minutes' wait. It wouldn't be easy. But they'd make it, Aaron was absolutely sure of that. He looked over Marta's head out the small window and saw the ground closing in fast. They were precisely on schedule.

"Hey there, sleepy head." Aaron looked down, slightly startled by her voice. He'd thought she was still asleep. "Welcome back to the world of the living." She smiled and pecked him softly on the lips.

"Was I that out of it?"

Marta nodded and stretched her back. "Yep. A kid came by and started wailing like a siren at his mom, but you didn't flinch."

Aaron blinked. That wasn't supposed to happen. He should wake at any sound not regular for a plane. "Strange."

Marta shook her head. "Not that strange. You were exhausted." She touched his cheek softly. He took her hand to keep it there, it felt far too good. "And you were sleeping so peacefully. It was a beautiful sight to see." He smiled at her words, and kissed her palm softly.

"How are you feeling?" he asked changing the subject away from him.

"Good. Nothing new happened. Nicky got sick, but that's about it."

"Did you have to tell him that?" came a hiss from behind them.

Marta chuckled, and Aaron smiled broadly. "Sorry, miss. He wants to know everything. You know." She nodded to Bourne right behind Aaron.

Nicky shook her head. "We must be completely out of our minds loving these men."

"Definitely." Marta said, grinning wildly at Aaron, who shook his head in amusement. It was good to see Marta this unstrained for once.

"Well, it was a pleasure, sir, ma'am." Bourne said. "Maybe we'll see each other again. One day."

Aaron nodded, playing along. "Perhaps." Bourne and Nicky nodded, took their bags and vanished. Marta ushered Aaron out of his seat playfully so that she could grab her bag, and he grabbed her in turn to kiss her passionately. Strange, they'd never had so much fun on a plane. They went off giggling and laughing like a couple of teenagers, passed security without much trouble and then they had to wait.

"What to do for almost two hours?" Marta said dramatically, her eyes twinkling mischievously.

He pulled her against his chest, his heart hammering like crazy and smirked. "Well, I could think of a thing or two."

**I**She pushed herself up on her tiptoes and whispered hoarsely in her ear, "I want you. Now."

Aaron almost took her then and these, but contained himself just in time. He had to be in control for this. He took her hand and started pulling her towards the separate waiting rooms. They found one empty, locked it and lowered the blinds. They would be safe. For now. "This is going to be hard and fast." he warned her with a strained voice. She took a quick breath and kissed him heatedly.

"Well, then, what are you waiting for?"

Oh, he loved this woman. He smirked and then kissed her again, unbuttoning her shirt in the process. He wouldn't tear it, even though he wanted to, seeing as they still had many hours to go. Her eyes were clouded with lust as she hastily tugged off his shirt. Her skilled fingers ran over his chest, making goose bumps shoot down his body. He stifled a moan, while desperately unbuttoning her shorts. He pushed it down her hips, along with her panties and then she was naked. His knees were about to give out. They were actually doing this, he couldn't believe they were. In a public place. Their relationship had just gone from beginners stage to pro. He looked into her eyes, searching for a hint of doubt or signs she didn't want this. There were none. He grinned, grabbed her and pulled her to him, crashing his mouth on hers. His more...sober mind told him to stop immediately. This wasn't supposed to happen, he wasn't supposed to give into this. Yet he was, and not regretting it either. He lowered her to the empty seats and leaned over her, looking at her in awe. She wrapped her legs around his hips, and rather impatiently, started pulling him towards her. With one movement, his jeans were off and he was inside her. The feel of it was so overwhelming that he stayed like this for a moment, relishing in her warmth and softness. But when she bucked her hips, he couldn't take it anymore. He started slamming into her hard, making her gasp and moan. "Marta, Marta, Marta!" he moaned, while she moaned at every thrust. "You feel amazing."

She pulled him down and kissed him, while frantically trying to keep up with him. "Yes!" she shouted, when he hit her G-spot. "Oh, Aaron!" He kissed her quickly, swallowing her screams of pleasure. Hard and fast agreed with them. When she was almost there, he pulled out of her and flipped her over, and she nodded when he asked her if this was okay. She had her eyes closed in pure pleasure and she moaned when he slammed into her from behind. Aaron knew he was being a little rough, but he also knew she'd agreed. He bent forward and kissed her lower back and shoulders.

"Come for me, baby." moaned Aaron, as her walls clenched tighter around him, causing him to spurt to the precipice. He pulled her up, so she had her back pressed up against his chest and kissed her tenderly, drowning out both his own and her screams when he thrust one more time and they both came undone.

She was smiling up at him through her post-orgasm haze, her eyes half-closed. "Aaron," she whispered, "Aaron."

He stroked her hair out of her face, and then moved away from her slowly, groaning at the loss of contact. "That was wonderful. But I want to make love to you when we get where we want to be."

She nodded. "It was fun and good and lovely and mind blowing." She smiled lazily. "I liked it. I like to try new things." Marta leaned in and kissed his lips softly, making his head spin.**I** "But now we have to get up." She pushed him off her and started dressing again. He smirked, grabbed her waist from behind and kissed her neck, making her giggle. "Aaron!"

"Alright!" he said, laughing, before letting her go. He jumped into his clothing, grinning like a madman. He felt extremely happy at this moment in time, Marta with him and as happy as he was. Yes, this couldn't get any better.**I**

-o0Marta/Aaron0o-

**Marta POV**

Love. That was what she felt. Love and affection and happiness and every good emotion all at once. His arms were tightly wrapped around her while they were flying somewhere over Europe to America. Aaron had already pointed out Bourne and Nicky, this time they were seated at the other end of this compartment. They had briefly acknowledged each other, before going back to their own business. Marta didn't mind. She was okay right here, pressed against his warm chest, his heart thundering under her ear.

"Are you hungry?" Aaron muttered in her ear when they saw that the sky was dark outside. Her stomach growled at that exact moment, and he chuckled. "Okay." He leaned forward and handed her the menu. "Pick anything. Anything you like. I'll buy it for you."

She looked at the menu shortly and her eye immediately fell on the American Cheeseburger. She knew it wasn't something that would be very tasty, but she didn't care. "That. I want the Cheeseburger." Aaron raised his brows at her, and smirked a little. "I want a bit of home. I miss America."

He kissed the top of her head. "Then a bit of home you will get." He pressed the button to call a flight attendant, and there came one(male this time) rushing to his side in a flash. "The lady wants an American Cheeseburger." he said, smiling at Marta. The man nodded and started writing it down. "A glass of white wine to go along with that. And for me a Cheeseburger, too. And a beer."

"Yes, sir. I'll be back in about ten minutes."

Marta raised her brows at Aaron and then chuckled. "White wine with a Cheeseburger?"

He kissed the top of her head. "Why not? Everything's possible in First Class." Within fifteen minutes, they had their cheeseburgers, and Marta tasted the sweet taste of home. They were on their way home, and even though it was because they had yet another battle to fight, she was happy that they were. "Is that what you wanted?"

She nodded and took another bite. "Yes. Very much so."

Aaron chuckled, and stroked her cheek softly, lovingly. "Good. I love to see you happy." After dinner, Marta rested her head back. Sated and happy, she felt the urge to go to sleep. It was 10 o'clock in the evening now, and they still had more than 12 hours to go. It would be mad if they didn't sleep. "Sleep, Marta. I will watch over you. You will be safe."

She leaned her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes. It wasn't long before her eyes got heavy and sleep overcame her.

-o0Marta/Aaron0o—

Thirteen hours later, they touched down. It was still early in the morning, but they were not tired. Marta and Aaron exchanged a quick glance with Bourne and Nicky, and a silent treaty was made. They would meet in the hotel of Bourne's choosing.

"Welcome back, Mrs. Monroe. I hope you had a nice holiday."

Marta turned to Aaron, smiling brightly. "Honeymoon, actually. And we had."

She went on to the luggage belt, and there she pulled hers and Aaron's bags from it. Two strong arms wrapped around her from behind. "Welcome back to America, love." Aaron rested his chin on her shoulder and she smiled.

"You, too."

"Shall we find a suitable hotel, sweetheart?" they suddenly heard Bourne's voice say behind them. Aaron stopped Marta the moment she tried to turn around.

"Don't." he whispered. "Don't let anyone know we are with them. Just…let's go to that little shop behind them, we'll listen to their conversation, so we know where to go."

Marta squatted with the magazine part as she listened intently to Bourne. Her eyes widened when she heard him say 'the Hilton' in midtown. That was a seriously expensive hotel. She looked up at Aaron, who was 'reading' one of the magazines, but looking past the pages at her. He nodded slowly, and went to the cashier to pay for the magazine and the book Marta had picked. Another one of Dan Brown, she loved smart thrillers. Aaron turned around and smiled. "Well then, Mrs Monroe. The Hilton Midtown it is." Marta couldn't help but smile. The Hilton. If there was one hotel she ever wanted to stay in once in her life, it was the Hilton. Even on the run, her dreams were coming true. It still took them over two hours to get where they wanted to go, but finally, they checked into the Hilton and found themselves in one of the most luxurious rooms they'd ever seen. Turns out they got the penthouse, a two-floor, five bedroom apartment that was way too large for them. Apparently, according to the attendant, there were two penthouses, both rented at the same time. Mr and Mrs. Kamal were in the one and they had made sure that a Mr and Mrs. Monroe got the other one, because they would be returning from their honeymoon soon. The attendant was pleasantly surprised to find that Mr and Mrs. Monroe arrived the same day, but hadn't complained, because the tips were so good here.

Marta threw herself onto the king size bed and giggled softly, not believe how lucky she was. This wasn't running. This was going from high class hotels to high class hotels, without being detected. Cross was standing in the doorway, smiling at her, his head leaning against the post.

She knew that after this, the hard part really began, because they were going to have to come out in the open and sue the entire CIA. But she would do it. For Aaron, for Bourne. They deserved their peace.

* * *

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